At a high-energy product launch in Sydney, Canva turned the focus from creative templates to productivity. Against a backdrop of sequins and social media references, the platform introduced a major shift in how its tools work with artificial intelligence. The most notable improvement is a connected AI system that views spreadsheets, images and code as one combined workspace.
Canva began as a user-friendly alternative to professional design tools but has developed into a serious option for enterprise users. Since its April updates, its ambitions have become more evident. Canva is no longer only competing with Adobe and Figma but is now also going after workplace platforms such as Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, where design merges with data.
At the core of this change is Canva’s new agentic AI system. It can understand natural language prompts, generate multi-layered editable designs and use data from spreadsheets to personalise outputs. For example, marketers can now ask Canva to create an advertisement that includes real customer data without needing to move between different apps. This process is made to streamline tasks and expand AI accessibility for less technical users.
In a significant move, Canva has also made Affinity, the graphic design software it purchased for over $1 billion, completely free. Affinity was already known as a low-cost alternative to Photoshop. This new approach is meant to take market share from Adobe, which recently attracted criticism over unclear AI-related terms of service. Canva is promoting Affinity as not only more affordable but also more ethical, stating that it will not use customer designs to train its AI models.
These offerings show that Canva aims to be more than just design software. It wants to position itself as a creative interface that supports overall workplace productivity. That includes spreadsheets, forms, emails and code, all enhanced by AI. However, bold strategies carry risk. Canva’s free products could raise sustainability concerns ahead of a possible public listing, and its AI tools may need additional refinement to convince professionals accustomed to established platforms.
