Canva Encourages 5000 Employees to Explore AI Tools Daily

Canva’s chief technology officer, Brendan Humphreys, has announced a significant shift in the company’s approach to artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. With a workforce of 5,000 employees, Canva is encouraging all its staff to explore and utilize AI tools that best suit their needs. This initiative, described by Humphreys as “permissive” licensing, aims to foster innovation and productivity across the organization.

While Canva’s security and trust teams still vet all potential AI tools, the company has made it clear that it is open to a wide range of AI applications. This approach marks a departure from the traditional model where IT departments act as the sole custodians of technology systems. Humphreys emphasizes that in the realm of AI, everyone at Canva is now involved in research and development.

To support this initiative, Canva will host an “AI discovery week” in July. This event will include three days of learning courses and a two-day “hackathon,” providing employees with ample time to experiment with AI tools. The courses will be taught by Canva employees, including both technologists and self-taught experts. Additionally, Canva hosts bi-weekly AI-focused virtual events that draw up to 2,000 attendees, where employees share their favorite AI use cases.

One notable example of AI application at Canva is the creation of a custom GPT model by an employee. This model helps managers compare career targets with performance notes, saving time in drafting bi-annual performance management assessments. Another example involves engineers who have mastered AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Windsurf. These engineers not only demonstrate effective prompting with these tools but also highlight their limitations and the need for human input. Their output is reviewed by peers, who are also encouraged to use AI for code comprehension.

Humphreys acknowledges the challenge of integrating AI into the workflow, particularly for new graduates who lack the experience to evaluate AI-generated code. To address this, Canva is investing in internal mentoring and has created a custom GPT based on peer-reviewed articles by its engineers. This GPT can answer questions from junior employees, mimicking the advice of a human peer.

Humphreys reports that the vast majority of Canva’s engineers have experimented with AI, and 50% are using these tools daily. The goal is to increase this number to 80% by the end of 2025. While the productivity of software engineers is currently around 30%, Humphreys is more focused on the adoption of AI tools rather than productivity metrics.

Humphreys joined Canva in 2014 as a senior engineer and was promoted to CTO in September. He oversees all technology aspects, including IT, product development, infrastructure, security, and data science. Recent external launches include Canva Sheets, an AI-powered collaborative spreadsheet product, and AI video generation with audio, powered by Google’s Veo 3 model. Canva AI now generates eight-second video clips with synchronized audio.

Internally, Humphreys stresses the importance of keeping humans in the loop when using AI for tasks such as sourcing code, writing press releases, preparing job assessments, or formulating marketing plans. Employees will always be held accountable for their AI-assisted work, emphasizing that humans are ultimately the owners of the output.