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In July 2025, Canva gave its 5,000-strong workforce the week off from their day jobs to pick up new AI-related skills, described by its founder as a “bold experiment in team development.”
The choose-your-own adventure style scheme featured sessions, workshops, and a two-day hackathon – and was widely welcomed by staff who felt they needed more time to “explore and experiment with AI, rather than trying to squeeze learning into an already busy schedule.”
In other words, the experiment worked.
So much so that earlier in May, the design software giant ran its second AI Discovery Week, with even more impressive results:
Over 5,300 employees attended 64 sessions across workshops, deep dives, and showcases
25,940 total hours of learning were logged across the week
361 hackathon ideas were registered, up from 330 in the first Discovery Week
Faye Longhurst, Regional People Lead EMEA for Canva, tells HR Grapevine it was a week for “deep learning, experimentation, and having fun with AI – and really letting loose your imagination.”
Discovery Week 2.0: Canva’s bold AI play
In the 10 months since Canva’s first week-long shutdown in 2025, plenty has changed.
AI has now become a staple for staff across the business, heavily influenced by the launch of Canva AI 2.0 – the company's new suite of agentic AI tools – in April.
Faye Longhurst
Regional People Lead EMEA, Canva
Canva says nine in ten employees already use AI weekly. An AI-powered Slack bot, for example, has reportedly saved its legal team over 1,500 hours of trademark review work, while an HR agent currently handles policy queries automatically, on behalf of the people team.
Underpinning these shifts are four commitments for all “Canvanauts” – dedicated learning time, access to tools, open knowledge sharing, and ongoing development through its AI School.
In the spirit of dedicated learning time and open knowledge sharing, Longhurst describes the second Discovery Week as a “pens-down, week-long pause to go deep on AI learning, experimentation, and building.”
“[Creating] protected time was quite deliberate,” the People Lead explains. “We heard from our team, when we asked them ‘what is it that you need to feel confident with AI?’ that it was the time to learn, experiment, fail, and try again.”
‘AI literacy to AI native’ - what changed in 2026?
With five days of learning ahead, Canva was conscious that unbridled 'discovery' time could feel overwhelming and leave some staff unsure of where best to focus their attention.
We heard from our team, when we asked them ‘what is it that you need to feel confident with AI?’ that it was the time to learn, experiment, fail, and try again
A founder-led kick-off at the beginning of the week, therefore, helped set context and outline why the unusual upskilling programme was so important. From there, staff were once again given a choose-your-own-adventure structure, allowing them to benefit from pre-planned sessions while still controlling the areas in which they explored, learned, and picked up new skills.
A central site hosted everything from workshops led by expert speakers and coaches, to specialist sessions run by AI partners – for example, one targeted specifically at members of the finance team.
The week then wrapped up with a two-day hackathon.
