My experiences with Generative AI are somewhat limited. For my university assignments, I never dared to use it. The rules about the use of GenAI and fraud are a bit unclear in my opinion, so I always stayed far away from it in the context of my studies. Only recently I have started to use it a bit and experimented with it, but I am still quite hesitant.
There is another GenAI tool that I do use frequently. The program Canva offers a lot of GenAI tools. Canva is a creative platform where you can create all kinds of graphic design material like posters, slides, brochures, posts for social media, flyers and much more. I use it quite a lot for presentations, posters and social media posts. Canva offers several different apps with GenAI that generate pictures and designs from text. In my experience this makes designing something much easier and faster. You can easily see if something you have in mind actually looks good and adjust it with just a few words. I use it mostly to create some designs or templates and generate pictures that I need.
The tool works really well, and Canva is investing a lot into developing the AI tools even further (Van Loon, 2024). The business recently took over AI platform Leonardo and incorporated it into it’s own features. This seems like a smart business idea, as Canva plans to raise subscription prices (De Graef, 2024). Canva works with a free model and a premium, paid subscription. In the free version you get a taste of AI and can use a tool a few times for free. In the premium version, you get more GenAI tools and unlimited use. With the expansion to GenAI territory, this also helps Canva to compete with the big companies in the graphic design market, like Adobe (Poh & Lee, n.d.).
To conclude, I used Canva long before the GenAI tools, but I have seen a big improvement with the development of these tools. I think this is a great example of how GenAI can improve your business and change your customer experience for the better. I am a huge fan of the GenAI tools in Canva, if that wasn’t already clear. If you thought GenAI is not creative, I recommend you try it for yourself. It makes designing so much easier and quicker and sometimes even comes up with things I hadn’t even considered!
References
De Graef, A. (2024, September 4). Canva verhoogt prijzen: tot 300% duurder wegens AI-functies. TechPulse. https://techpulse.be/nieuws/468506/canva-verhoogt-prijzen-tot-300-duurder-wegens-ai-functies/
Van Loon, C. (2024, July 30). Canva neemt AI-platform Leonardo over. ITdaily. https://itdaily.be/nieuws/software/canva-neemt-ai-platform-leonardo-over/
Poh, O., & Lee. (n.d.). Canva bets big on AI to fight Adobe and supercharge growth. MSN. Retrieved October 1, 2024, from https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/canva-bets-big-on-ai-to-fight-adobe-and-supercharge-growth/ar-AA1r8Kgb?ocid=BingNewsVerp
I totally get where you’re coming from! At first I was hesitant to use Generative AI for my studies, not just because the rules around it are unclear, but also because it’s easy to fall into the habit of letting the AI do the thinking for you.
I have used Canva plenty of times and found that the tools they offer to be a real game-changer. I use it to create flyers for my dad’s restaurant and the GenAI features make it so much easier and faster to bring ideas to life. It’s amazing how quickly you can adjust designs with just a few words this saved a lot of my time and effort. I agree that the investment of Canva in AI tools is really smart, it’s taking creativity to the next level and helping it compete with bigger players like Adobe. I was already a fan of Canva, but with these new GenAI features, I’m even more impressed with how it can make designing feel effortless and fun!