Adobe offers free AI tools to Saudi users in $4 billion expansion

More than 27 million eligible people in Saudi Arabia will receive a year of free access to selected Adobe artificial intelligence tools under a partnership valued at more than $4 billion.

The agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Humain will cover Adobe Firefly Standard and premium features in Adobe Express. The programme is due to begin rolling out by the end of 2026.

Adobe and Humain are developing an image-generation model tailored to Saudi culture. The companies say it will accept Arabic-language prompts and produce images reflecting local cultural characteristics.

Humain, backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, forms part of the kingdom’s wider effort to build domestic AI capabilities and Arabic-language technology. Adobe and Humain announced their initial partnership in November, focusing on tools for generating Arabic content and serving the broader Middle East market.

The expanded agreement gives Adobe access to an unusually large potential user base as competition grows in the generative-AI design market. Traditional software companies face pressure from newer services that can produce images, video and other creative material within seconds, while Adobe has added generative AI to its established creative-software portfolio.