Canva has apologized after its Magic Layers AI feature was found to be automatically replacing the word “Palestine” with “Ukraine” in user designs. The company says it has since fixed the issue and is implementing additional safeguards to prevent a recurrence.
The bug was discovered by X user @ros_ie9, who found that the phrase “cats for Palestine” was being changed to “cats for Ukraine” when processed through the feature. Magic Layers is designed to break flat images into separate editable components and is not intended to make visible alterations to text or content in user designs.
The substitution appeared to be specific to the word “Palestine.” According to @ros_ie9, related terms such as “Gaza” were not affected by the feature. Replies to the viral X post indicated that other users were able to replicate the behavior before Canva issued a fix.
“We became aware of an issue with our Magic Layers feature and moved quickly to investigate and fix it,” Canva spokesperson Louisa Green told The Verge. “We take reports like this very seriously, and we’re putting additional checks in place to help prevent this in future. We’re sorry for any distress this may have caused.”
Magic Layers is a central part of Canva’s recent AI overhaul, which the company has described as “the beginning of the next era of creation.” The incident could present a reputational challenge for Canva as it works to position itself as a competitor to Adobe’s suite of AI-powered design tools.
Source: The Verge