Some of the features that Canva added are AI-powered writing, slide shows made by prompts, and the ability to turn documents into websites are all included in Visual Suite. Magic Studio leverages AI to convert written concepts into social media posts, videos, and slide shows.
Canva has introduced new generative AI features, which will skyrocket some subscription costs next year. Customers globally who use Canva Teams, a business-focused subscription that supports adding multiple users, can anticipate prices to increase up to nearly 300 percent in some cases.
Canva is justifying the price increase since it has introduced new AI features into the product, which will help people have a better experience with the app.
Some of the users of Canva Teams in the USA are complaining that their annual subscription has increased from $120 per year for up to five users to $500 per year. A 40% discount to bring down the sot to 300 dollars in the first 12 months. In Australia, the monthly flat fee for five users worth $39.99 AUS (about USD 26) was replaced with $13.50 AUS (about USD 9) for each user. That means, without any other reductions, a team of five will pay 68 percent more at least.
Canva used to offer some of these accounts at reduced costs, but those prices are now gone. In April, the business silently modified its Teams subscription, raising the monthly fee to $10 per user and a minimum requirement of three users. Canva’s communications lead, Louisa Green, says that the current users will also be switched to this structure in September to reflect the cost of the plan value of enhanced product experience.
Some of the features that were added are AI-powered writing, slide shows made by prompts, and the ability to turn documents into websites are all included in Visual Suite. Magic Studio leverages AI to convert written concepts into social media posts, videos, and slide shows.
Subscribers expressed their frustration with the increase in the price of social media. They also stated that small businesses are the ones who would be most affected by the price change.
Canva renewed its multi-year collaboration with Getty Images and Videos and acquired AI startup Leonardo.ai in July to expand its AI offerings. As part of this acquisition, Leonardo’s team joined Canva’s 4000 workforce.
CEO Melanie Perkins in July said that the AI features introduced will help the company reach point A to point B by getting the idea into an actual product and will help in cutting costs and time for the company.
Canva also introduced a significant enterprise-focused suit departing from its roots as a platform for freelance marketers and casual designers.
The AI features are developed by Large Language Models (LLMs) in-house and in partnership with leading AI companies like Google and OpenAI.
Canva introduced a developer platform and produced over 100 apps in its app store the previous year.
As Canva is inviting many business clients, Canva has implemented measures to protect data and users from legal issues like copyright infringement or plagiarism. For that, the company has implemented a tool called Canva Shield, which allows select users to have AI features without any extra charges. New settings are introduced so that creators can protect their assets.
There have been reports on social media of people exploiting Canva’s free education accounts and reselling them on platforms like Etsy and eBay.
Introducing AI into business is not cheap and has a lot of environmental costs. Currently, AI models cost over 100 dollars to develop, and researchers anticipate that it would be more energy-consuming for AI to generate text instead of taking it from the source.