Canva, the design software company valued at $32 billion, has laid off a significant portion of its technical writing team, impacting ten out of twelve positions. This decision follows a company-wide initiative nine months prior, spearheaded by Canva’s co-founders, urging employees to integrate artificial intelligence tools into their daily workflows to boost productivity. The move marks Canva’s first known redundancy round. The technical writing team was responsible for creating and maintaining internal manuals, including engineering handbooks, crucial for guiding employees across the company.
The reduction in technical writing staff signals a shift in Canva’s operational strategy, emphasizing reliance on AI-driven content generation and documentation processes. While the laid-off employees were encouraged to embrace AI tools, their roles have now been deemed redundant. This development raises questions about the future of similar positions within Canva and other tech companies as AI capabilities continue to evolve and automate tasks previously performed by human employees. Canva’s decision could serve as a bellwether for the broader tech industry, indicating a growing trend of workforce restructuring in response to advancements in artificial intelligence.
