---
title: Canva Is Rebuilding Itself as an AI Platform With Design Tools
description: Canva is repositioning as an AI platform with design tools, and Melanie Perkins says the output has to come back as a file you can still edit.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-08-07T16:00:01.073Z
updated: 2026-08-07T16:00:01.083Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/canva-ai-platform-design-tools-perkins
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-young-woman-designing-with-canva-on-laptop-in-a-stylish-indo-17681366.jpg
categories: Business
content_type: News
region: Global
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Canva executives have seen a growing number of users go to ChatGPT instead of Canva to make designs, according to a report in The Information by Stephanie Palazzolo and Cory Weinberg. Palazzolo wrote in a [post on X](https://x.com/steph_palazzolo/status/2085486835732467995) on 6 August that the shift, along with rising AI costs and a seasonal drop in users, has worried executives at the company.

Canva's own plan for that competition has been public since the spring. In an [interview with The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/podcast/913793/melanie-perkins-canva-ai-adobe-affinity-design) published on 20 April, founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins described a repositioning she summed up as moving "from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design tools". She called it Canva's biggest launch ever, and said the aim is for Canva to become "the system where work happens end to end".

## Perkins Says the Output Has to Come Back as an Editable File

What the AI hands back is the part Perkins returns to most. Whatever Canva AI produces arrives as an ordinary, editable Canva file rather than a finished image a user can only accept or discard. She puts that at the centre of the difference between two generations of the technology.

> "One shot generation is like AI 1.0 and being able to do iterative, agentic orchestration is really 2.0."
> — Melanie Perkins, founder and chief executive, Canva

Perkins describes Canva's product history in three stages: pixels first, then objects, and now what she calls concept editing.

## Canva Built the AI Tools Into the Editor Itself

Canva put the tools in a new tab inside the existing editor. Perkins said most chatbots make a user go "backwards and forwards asking for the same thing" while the tool "will regenerate the entire thing over and over again", which she called annoying. Canva AI instead offers conversational editing and lays the result out "just in the normal Canva that you know and love", where it can be edited as usual. One Canva engineer described the system as "an orchestra", because so many separate tools underneath have to coordinate.

## Canva Is Giving the First Million Users a $100 Monthly AI Pass

AI credits are tiered by plan. Free accounts get a limited allowance, Pro accounts more, Business accounts more again and Enterprise the most generous. Separately, Perkins said Canva is giving the first million users an AI pass, which she described as a $100 monthly pass, so they can "go completely wild and test out all of these new products".

On where the underlying models come from, Perkins said Canva is building its own expertise while leaning on outside labs. "Becoming domain experts in design has been a really critical part of our research strategy, but then partnering with incredible companies that are spending billions of dollars to build the best in their own areas and then bringing that technology onto Canva is also a key part of the way we're approaching this," she said.

## Perkins Expects the Growth to Come From Enterprise Customers

The tools were still in beta when Perkins spoke to The Verge, and she said she is confident Canva's enterprise growth will keep accelerating as more companies look for [software that automates work](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/one-in-five-us-workers-delegate-tasks-to-ai) like building presentations. When she last appeared on the show in 2024, Canva had largely escaped the backlash aimed at rivals for adding AI features. Perkins put that down to how much users liked the product and to Canva's inroads into business customers, since its users are mostly non-designers trying to get work done rather than professionals whose craft the tools threaten.

## FAQ

**Q: What did the report say about Canva and ChatGPT?**
Stephanie Palazzolo, writing on X on 6 August 2026 about a report she co-wrote with Cory Weinberg for The Information, said Canva executives had noticed a growing number of users turning to ChatGPT instead of Canva to generate designs, which along with rising AI costs and a seasonal drop in users has worried executives.

**Q: What is Canva's own strategy for AI?**
In an interview published on 20 April 2026, Perkins said Canva is shifting "from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design tools", with the AI output landing as an editable Canva file rather than a finished image.

**Q: What does Perkins mean by concept editing?**
It is the third stage in her account of Canva's product history, after pixels and objects, built around iterative, agentic orchestration rather than one shot generation.

**Q: How does Canva price its AI features?**
Credits are tiered by plan, with free accounts the most limited and Pro, Business and Enterprise progressively more generous. Canva is also giving the first million users an AI pass that Perkins described as a $100 monthly pass.