Top 7 AI Features That Make Canto a Standout DAM Platform

Managing a vast library of content is no easy feat. Teams need tools that not only keep their assets organised but also accelerate discovery, maintain brand consistency, and support scaling. Canto’s AI-powered Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform answers that call with a suite of smart features designed to do exactly that.

Whether you’re in marketing, media, education, or government, here are the top 7 AI-driven capabilities in Canto that will revolutionise your digital asset management.

1. AI Visual Search — No Tags? No Problem.

Arguably Canto’s most powerful AI tool, AI Visual Search lets users find photos and videos without relying on manually added tags or file names. Instead, you can type what you see — for example, “man with a blue umbrella in a storm” — and Canto uses deep learning to scan the content of every image and video to retrieve relevant results.

This means:

• No dependency on human-tagging

• Natural language search, just like talking to Google

• Full content scanning, including video frame.

It’s especially useful when you don’t know how an asset was originally saved or described.

2. Smart Tags and Facial Recognition

Metadata is critical — but it’s also tedious to manage manually. Canto automates this with:

• Smart Tags: AI scans and assigns contextually relevant keywords to your assets as they’re uploaded.

• Facial Recognition: Automatically identifies and groups images featuring the same person — even if they weren’t previously tagged.

This dramatically cuts down on admin time and makes your content easier to discover.

3. Automated Metadata & Smart Albums

Canto’s AI doesn’t just tag individual files — it also categorises them. Through Smart Albums, content can be auto-sorted into collections based on shared features, like people, locations, colours, or themes.

This means your team can:

• Automate folder structures

• Reduce manual sorting

• Improve consistency across departments.

• It’s a game-changer for growing asset libraries that need to stay clean and navigable.

4. Predictive Analytics for Content Performance

Want to know what content works best — and plan better for the future?

Canto’s predictive analytics use AI to surface insights such as:

• Most used assets

• Most shared/downloaded files

• Content engagement by internal or external audiences

This helps marketers and creatives double down on what’s effective and optimise content strategies over time.

5. Workflow Automation with AI

Canto brings AI into project workflows by automating repetitive and low-value tasks. This includes:

• Auto-tagging and organising incoming files

• Format conversions

• Distribution logic (e.g., publish to portals, flag for review)

Teams can set up rules so assets move through approvals, edits, and releases without endless email threads or micromanagement.

6. Enhanced Natural Language Search (NLP)

With AI-driven Natural Language Processing (NLP), Canto understands the way humans naturally search. You no longer need to remember exact tags or filenames — just describe what you're looking for.

For example, search for:

• “Outdoor photos with children and balloons”

• “Slide deck about Q4 results”

• “Aerial drone shots of coastal cliffs”

Canto returns relevant results, even if the exact wording isn’t in the file’s metadata.

7. Quality Control & Brand Compliance

Brand managers, rejoice — AI can now help ensure only approved, high-quality assets are used.

Canto’s AI tools can:

• Flag low-resolution or off-brand content

• Identify duplicates and outdated assets

• Support digital rights management by surfacing licensing metadata

This allows teams to spend less time checking usage compliance and more time creating impactful content.

Final Thoughts: AI That Actually Works

Canto has successfully embraced the power of AI to improve how digital assets are discovered, organised, reused, and protected. It’s not about flashy tech — it’s about saving time, improving ROI, and allowing teams to work smarter.

As more organisations in Australia and New Zealand embrace DAM to manage growing content demands, choosing a platform with proven AI functionality like Canto’s will be a strategic differentiator in 2025 and beyond.