AI was supposed to power Canva's next act. It also exposed software's most expensive problem | Fortune

Canva was the rare startup that grew fast and made money—then AI costs slashed its growth forecast by a third…

Canva cut revenue growth forecast to 20% from 30% as generative AI inference costs exceeded expectations, forcing the company to slow feature rollout while improving unit economics. The shift signals SaaS's zero-marginal-cost model is breaking: recurring AI compute now compresses margins for players like Figma (FCF fell from 27% to 14%), reshaping viable growth trajectories ahead of potential IPOs.