Canva releases its first in-house image model, Canva Craft, which plans the design first and then generates the image
Canva has released its first in-house image generation model, Canva Craft, which uses a two-stage architecture: it plans the design first and then generates the image, supporting up to 2K resolution and more than 30 aspect ratios. The model was trained on millions of human-made templates in the platform's content library, and it currently ranks fourth on the Design Arena image generation model leaderboard, behind OpenAI's GPT-Image-2.5 Sunburst, GPT-Image-2.5 Flare and GPT-Image-2. Canva Craft is now available to all users worldwide and can be accessed from the three-dot option in the left-hand menu to enter Dream Lab; Canva also plans to let AI agents access the model via MCP and will launch Craft-fast and Craft-ultrafast versions.
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Canva's in-house image model uses a two-stage architecture of planning first and then generating, which helps readers understand the difference between design tools building their own models and general-purpose image models.
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Canva is diving even deeper into AI with the launch of an image generation model that competes directly with those from OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. The model, called Canva Craft , uses a two-stage architecture that allows it to plan a design before generating an image, allowing for “greater precision, consistency and control,” according to an announcement on Thursday .
Canva Craft can generate images at up to 2K resolution and in more than 30 aspect ratios. In addition to generating social media posts and marketing content, it’s also supposed to create realistic scenes, digital art, environmental imagery, and more. The model’s two-stage system allows it to more accurately generate complex images that require legible text and precise object placement, according to Canva.
The new AI model builds on Canva’s big push into AI. In April, Canva launched new prompt-based editing capabilities that allow you to create or make changes to a design by describing it. The design tool also brought layers to AI-generated images , which let you make changes to part of an image while leaving the rest untouched.
Canva says it trained Craft on “millions of human-made templates” from the platform’s content library, which includes things like social media posts, presentations, infographics, and menus. The model is currently ranked fourth on Design Arena’s leaderboard for the best AI image generation models, a crowdsourced benchmark for AI designs. It sits behind OpenAI’s GPT-Image-2.5 Sunburst, GPT-Image-2.5 Flare, and GPT-Image-2.
Canva notes that its AI model comes with “robust input and output moderation, privacy and safety controls, and reporting tools.” The company plans to allow AI agents to plug into Canva Craft through the open Model Context Protocol, and will also roll out more efficient Craft-fast and Craft-ultrafast models in the future.
Canva Craft is available now to all users globally. You can try it by navigating to the three-dot option on Canva’s left-hand menu and then selecting Dream Lab.