AI Product Masterclass in 45 Minutes from Canva's Co-Founder

Canva AI brings image generation, editable designs, documents, and code widgets into one conversational interface. It routes requests to different systems: Leonardo’s Phoenix for images, Canva’s own model for designs, and OpenAI’s GPT for conversational features. The team expanded from social media templates to more complex outputs such as presentations and documents, evaluating quality for each. Downloads and opening a result in the Canva editor are key signs that users accept a generation.

Adams says text prompts can be limiting when people lack the vocabulary to describe a visual idea. Canva uses reference images for style or layout, and lets people move from chat to direct editing. In his demo, he generated an office image from a reference, created an Instagram Story ad, edited its text and colors, and built a draggable solar system activity with Canva Code.

Canva’s product process centers on visual artifacts, and Adams says teams are increasingly moving from ideas straight to interactive prototypes. Designers, product managers, and engineers can use AI tools to build and revise prototypes, then put them in front of users early. Adams says this makes testing less guided than walking someone through static mockups and helps teams iterate quickly around observed behavior.

A front-end engineer added a rubber duck to Canva’s upload indicator as a hidden flourish. Frequent users discovered it, felt like insiders, and shared their affection for the product, which Adams connects to word-of-mouth growth. Canva encourages care and playful touches through repeated examples, leadership, and its “Empower Others” value. Adams also describes a coaching program with more than 500 trained coaches embedded across the company.

The weekend before Canva’s 2013 launch, Adams was hit by a taxi while cycling and returned to coding on Sunday after getting stitches. The team shipped by Tuesday, and Canva gained about 100 users on launch night, 1,000 by week’s end, 5,000 within a fortnight, and 25,000 by month’s end. Adams says the vision of empowering more people to design, alongside commitment to the team, motivated him.