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Saudi Ministry Backs Google AI Plus Access for 1 Million University Students

The ministry-backed campaign gives Google’s regional student offer a national channel in Saudi Arabia, but its headline number does not yet show how many students have enrolled or use the tools.

By 2 min read
Saudi Ministry Backs Google AI Plus Access for 1 Million University Students
Saudi Ministry Backs Google AI Plus Access for 1 Million University Students

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Saudi Arabia’s communications ministry is backing a Google campaign that could give up to one million university students a free year of Google AI Plus. That is the headline. But it is not a count of students who have signed up, passed verification, or actually used the tools. The offer is available to students who are at least eighteen, enrolled at a recognized university, and verified through SheerID. If approved, they receive twelve months at no cost, plus four hundred gigabytes of storage. The package includes the Gemini app, Deep Research, personalized AI, Omni video generation, and Nano Banana for creating images. It also includes Gemini Notebook, formerly called NotebookLM, which Google says can produce audio and interactive summaries and handle books of up to two hundred pages. Registration is open through December thirty-first, twenty twenty-six, as long as Google AI Plus is available in the student’s country. The important shift is distribution. Google’s regional student promotion already offered access across eligible Arab-world markets, and Saudi students received a similar twelve-month Gemini Pro offer in September twenty twenty-five. This time, a Saudi government-backed channel is encouraging registration nationally. Still, the ministry’s one-million figure could be an eligible pool, a registration target, or simply the program’s stated goal. The next meaningful signal is how many students complete SheerID checks and begin using the service. Until those numbers appear, the campaign measures intended reach—not adoption.

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3 key points

Google is extending its Arab-world student promotion through a Saudi government-backed campaign that aims to reach up to 1 million university students, offering a free year of Google AI Plus. The package includes 400 GB of storage and access to Gemini, Deep Research, Gemini Notebook, and generation tools, with registration open through December 31, 2026. The headline figure is not verified adoption: students still...

  1. 01

    The one-million figure may be an eligibility pool, registration target, or goal—not completed registrations or active users.

  2. 02

    Eligibility requires students to be at least 18, enrolled at a recognized university, and verified through SheerID.

  3. 03

    The package includes Gemini, Deep Research, personalized AI, Omni video generation, Nano Banana images, and 400 GB storage.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has described a partnership with Google to provide one million university students access to advanced AI technologies. Eligible students can receive Google AI Plus free for one year, but the one-million figure is a program goal or eligibility estimate, not a verified enrollment count.

A regional offer gains a state-backed channel

Google began the Arab-world promotion this week for active university students aged 18 or older in countries where AI Plus is available. Saudi Arabia is within Google’s wider eligible footprint. The Saudi initiative adds an explicit partnership with state institutions to encourage registration nationally, rather than leaving discovery entirely to individual students.

The package goes beyond a chatbot

Google positions the plan around study and creative work. It includes the Gemini app, deep research, personalized AI, Omni video generation and Nano Banana image generation, according to the company. Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM, can create audio and interactive summaries and summarize books of up to 200 pages.

Saudi applicants are described as needing to be enrolled at a recognized university and complete identity verification through SheerID. That verification step makes the campaign’s reach dependent on students completing registration, not simply on the ministry’s stated audience.

Ambition is not adoption

MCIT’s one-million-student description does not establish how many people have completed verification or begun using the service. The figure may represent the eligible pool, a registration target or the initiative’s stated goal. It is therefore a measure of the campaign’s intended scale, not current AI use among Saudi university students.

Saudi students received a related Google offer in September 2025, when the company provided a complimentary 12-month Gemini Pro plan to university students in Saudi Arabia and Egypt through a program involving the International Center for AI Research and Ethics. The present campaign changes the distribution effort around Google’s student access program; it does not make AI Plus a Saudi-only offer.

Sources

  1. blog.googleGemini’s Exclusive Student Offer Returns to the Arab World!
  2. shattered.ioSaudi Arabia's 1M Students Get Free Google AI Plus [2026]

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