Graphic design software giant Canva says it faced “internal concerns” after deciding applicants for many software development roles must use AI-assisted coding tools during technical interviews as part of the company's recruitment process.

The change was publicly announced on Wednesday by the Australian firm’s head of platforms, Simon Newton, in a blog post titled, “Yes, you can use AI in our interviews. In fact, we insist.”

Canva decided to stop asking candidates to solve coding problems without AI tools partly because the company found applicants were “increasingly using AI assistance” and it was difficult to detect if they had used covert tools to avoid detection, Newton said.

“Rather than fighting this reality and trying to police AI usage (which is increasingly difficult⁠!), we made the decision to embrace transparency and work with this new reality,” Newton said in the post.

“We want to see how well candidates collaborate with AI to solve problems.

“This approach gives us a clearer signal about how they'll actually perform when they join our team.”

Applicants for roles in machine learning, as well as front-end and back-end engineering, were now expected to use AI tools such as Cursor, Microsoft’s Copilot, or Anthropic’s Claude during technical interviews, Newton said.

Almost half of Canva’s front-end and back-end engineers were already using AI-assisted coding tools daily, he added.

The company had “redesigned technical interviews for the AI era” because it also believed its “hiring process should evolve alongside the tools and practices our engineers use every day”, he said.

Some workers 'understandably concerned’

Several Canva engineers “were understandably concerned” when managers first proposed the changes to technical interviews, Newton admitted.

“The initial reaction was worry that we were simply replacing rigorous computer science fundamentals with what one engineer called ‘vibe coding sessions’,” he said.

Vibe coding is a term used to describe generating software code using AI large language models (LLMs).


Anthropic co-founder and president Daniela Amodei (left) with Canva co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins (right) in April 2025. Image: Canva

Newton said while these concerns were “completely valid”, sentiment among workers grew more positive “once we explained that code fluency and technical depth were still absolute requirements, just evaluated in a different context”.

Canva was now informing job candidates they would be expected to use AI tools and the company would continue to refine its interview processes as AI technologies changed, he added.

A pilot phase of the new rules found applicants with minimal AI experience “often struggled”, Newton said.

“Not because they couldn't code, but because they lacked the judgment to guide AI effectively or identify when its suggestions were suboptimal."

Canva’s AI strategy and job cuts

While Canva is not the first company to expect candidates use AI-assisted coding tools during interviews, the firm has been one of the most vocal about its deep integration of AI technologies.

Canva wrote on its website in March that it was using AI to automate tasks and create “new creative possibilities”, while encouraging staff to “work smarter, upskill, and lead in this new AI era".

The firm has publicly touted internal philosophies dubbed “AI Everywhere” and “AI Impact” in recent months, and has dedicated internal communication channels for “sharing AI success stories”.

Like many other tech companies, this focus on AI has led to changes in how the company is structured, as well as how it reviews performance.

Canva employees have been asked to demonstrate their use of AI during recent performance reviews, Information Age understands.

Most of Canva’s technical writing team — responsible for maintaining internal documents — was laid off earlier this year.

While the redundancies were presented to staff as not being the result of the company's increasing use of AI, it is understood some employees did not believe that argument.

Confirmation of Canva’s change heart of heart on AI-assisted coding in interviews comes after popular language education app Duolingo said it would only allow its teams to hire new people if they could prove the work could not be automated by AI.

As Microsoft laid off more than 6,000 staff in May, the US tech giant said it had saved money by using AI for customer support, and expected its capital expenditure to increase through 2025 as it continued to scale up its AI infrastructure.