Advancing Human Creativity with AI

Inbound

December 23, 2024

Advancing Human Creativity with AI

The rise of accessible design tools has transformed the way people everywhere bring their ideas to life and tell their brand stories.

At INBOUND 2024, Canva's CPO, Cameron Adams, joined Debbie Millman to explore this creative evolution. Together they dove into the journey behind one of tech's most innovative companies and shared an exciting look into an AI-powered creative future.

THE JOURNEY TO DEMOCRATIZING DESIGN

Before Canva became a $2.3 billion revenue powerhouse used by 95% of Fortune 500 companies, Adams was coding websites and experimenting with digital tools. After stints at Google and his own startup, he met Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, who shared a vision of making design accessible to everyone.

"When Mel first pitched me the idea of democratizing design, it instantly gelled with me because I had seen what amazing stuff people could create with pretty simple tools," Adams shared, noting his past work in creating tools that allowed people to build off of their own design vision.

One of the most surprising things about Canva's rise? They built their success without traditional marketing for their first eight years. The company's growth wasn't just about making design tools; it was about fundamentally changing how organizations approach visual communication. Today, teams across every industry use Canva to create everything from social media content to full marketing campaigns, signaling a shift in how businesses think about design resources.

SCALING CREATIVITY FOR B2B TEAMS

For Adams, AI represents the next phase in democratizing creativity. While previous tech shifts focused on accessibility, AI is fundamentally changing how we approach creative work.

I consider creativity not to be something that only artists or sculptors have. I think creativity is something we all can have and express it in different ways. AI is now enabling us to express ourselves in ways that we didn't think we could do.

This transformation is particularly powerful for businesses, especially when scaling creativity feels impossible with traditional resources. Adams shared how teams are using AI to explore more ideas faster: "When you're thinking about a campaign or a billboard or a video that you want to shoot, you can actually storyboard the 20 ideas you had rather than the two that you normally would have been able to do with traditional tools."

He also pointed to examples of sales teams creating their own presentations, marketers rapidly testing campaign concepts, and customer service teams developing visual explanations. This shift is about empowering everyone in an organization to be a creator, unlocking new levels of efficiency and innovation.

AI'S IMPACT ON CREATORS

Adams compared AI's impact on creative professionals to past tech disruptions, point ing out that while change can be uncomfortable, it often opens the door to more opportunities than it closes.

One big piece piece of the puzzle is building AI responsibly. Canva has committed $200 million to their Creators Fund, ensuring artists are compensated when their work contributes to AI models.

"Bringing people's content into an AI model should be rewarding for those people whose content that you're bringing in," Adams emphasized. "The only way the AI models are going to get better is to continue to create content."

By creating systems that benefit both users and creators, organizations can build equitable models for future AI innovation. For Adams, it's about more than doing the right thing. It's about creating a sustainable ecosystem where technology and human creativity work together. And where creators feel even more empowered.

THE RISE OF AI-NATIVE CREATIVES

Looking ahead, Adams offered a vision of how AI will shape creative workflows. The key is in developing new kinds of creative intelligence, not just mastering prompts

"Understanding of the five things that an AI spits out which is best, how to merge them together, how to speak to your particular audience and tell the right story, that will be the key skill for creativity in the AI age."

This shift requires what Adams calls "multi-modal creativity": the ability to work across different creative mediums and tools, blending human insight with AI capabilities.

We're already seeing this evolution in action. Teams are adopting hybrid approaches that combine human expertise with AI tools to iterate faster and tap into even more innovative ideas.

TAKEAWAYS

Throughout his conversation with Millman, Adams provided insights that business leaders can apply as they approach the intersection of AI, creativity, and business growth:

Focus on User Experience: "When someone lands in Canva, they need to be comfortable. They need to be inspired. They need to feel like they're a creative individual who can make things."
Build Ethical Frameworks: Consider how your organization can fairly compensate and credit creators while leveraging AI.
Invest in New Skills: Help your team develop the ability to curate, combine, and enhance AI outputs.
Think Bigger: AI is about automation but it's also about enabling new forms of creativity across your organization.

As we move into an AI-powered future, Adams' vision suggests that success will come not just from adopting new tools, but from reimagining how we approach creativity in business. It's about giving more people the ability to express their ideas visually.

"It's not just for non-creatives who want to do creative things. It's also for creatives who want to do even more creative things."

Watch Cameron Adams' full session here for more insights on how AI is advancing human creativity.