Canva's co-founder and chief operating officer says it's stupid for creatives to not embrace AI.
Cliff Obrecht, who co-founded a design software company with his wife Melanie Perkins, said he was responding to AI like the designers had gone to Camba early on.
“So, when we launched in Camba, a lot of designers said, “Canba, we hate you. You're ruining our industry. You're like making us design all,” Obrecht said in a podcast episode on Tuesday's podcast scale.
“And as time went by, it didn't take long within four years. The designers weren't threatened by Camba,” he said, adding that Camba's tools help designers free up time for “high-value work.”
He thought, “AI is another step in its evolution,” and said it was time for creatives to embrace new technology.
“The lack of accepting AI as a creative means you can see where it's heading. It seems stupid,” he told podcast host Bob Safean.
Canva first launched its AI-powered tool in 2023. This used a “magic” branded tool to aid in copywriting and design. Visual Suite 2.0 was released in April. It integrates tools for design, writing, coding and data visualization.
This is because creatives from various industries have raised concerns over the past few years that AI will kill their work.
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In 2023, Adobe employees denounced the company after launching Firefly, a broad suite of generative AI tools. Adobe employees whose customer base is made up of creatives said the tool would kill some of the customers' jobs.
There were also concerns that Adobe could use creator content to train AI models. This is what the company rejected in a 2024 blog post.
The AI debate has reached Hollywood. In 2023, more than 11,000 Hollywood film and television screenwriters continued their strike to criticize the use of AI in the film industry, demanding more regulations in this area.
but, Jeffrey KatzenbergThe DreamWorks co-founder said at an AI conference in December that top Hollywood showrunners and creators embrace AI and view it as a useful resource for the creative process.
In June, former Disney executive Kevin Mayer said in the opening bid podcast that AI can make video and story creation more efficient for creatives.
Canva representatives did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
