Canva gives its presentation tools an AI makeover
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Canva's new AI-assisted photo editing feature. Image: Canva
Canva Tuesday unveiled a host of generative AI features it says will give more creative powers to average workers.
What they're saying: "AI has incredible potential to supercharge the 99% of office workers who don't have design training, who haven't been able to access easy to use powerful design tools before," Canva co-founder and product chief Cameron Adams told Axios.
Details: The 10 new tools, introduced under the Magic Studio banner, aim to help with everything from applying a corporate brand style to translating documents to photo editing.
- The Magic Grab feature allows people without photo editing skills to easily move around the main elements in an image.
- Magic Switch makes it easier to go from one type of document to another, such as transforming a long block of text into a presentation.
- A Magic Media feature adds text-to-image and text-to-video capabilities, with some of the technology involved coming from AI startup Runway.
- Canva also uses AI to generate alt text that offers a text description of a photo for those with visual impairments. "I don't think you can empower the world to design if you're not an inclusive design tool," Adams said.
Catch up quick: Canva, a decade-old online presentation tool, had already been adding AI features over the past year. Adams said those tools have been used 3 billion times by more than 40 million people.
The big picture: Nearly every major software maker is looking for ways to add generative AI capabilities to their products, including Adobe, Microsoft, Google and Salesforce.
Between the lines: Canva said it will indemnify enterprise customers who use the new AI tools against intellectual property complaints or other legal issues.
What's next: Adams said he hopes to add more features that use generative AI to refine ideas.
- "Generative AI is great at producing stuff fresh," he said, adding that, when it comes to modifying or refining one's work, "it can be a little hard to wrangle."
