Canva has announced plans to acquire Australian AI content generation and research startup Leonardo.ai as part of its goal to build a “world-class suite of visual AI tools.” Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal will give Canva access to Leonardo.ai’s lineup of user-customizable text-to-image and text-to-video generators.
Below are some examples of images that Canva claims were generated using the Leonardo.ai model: Image: Canva / Leonardio.ai
Canva has recently tried to diversify its platform by introducing tools like an office suite, but the visual design and communications platform remains one of the biggest competitors in Adobe’s creative software lineup. The acquisition of Affinity may position Canva to compete with Adobe software like Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, but Leonardo.ai could similarly be positioned as an alternative to Adobe’s Firefly generative AI model.
Leonardo.ai told TechCrunch that its models are trained using “licensed synthetic and publicly available/open source data,” which is more vague than Adobe’s Firefly training disclosure. Nonetheless, Adobe faced backlash over its recent policy updates, forcing it to explicitly state that it does not use user data to train its generative AI models. Canva has the opportunity to position itself as a growing alternative, but it will need to tread carefully to avoid Adobe-like scrutiny from creators who have similar concerns about generative AI.
