The UAE Artificial Intelligence Office launched a one-year complimentary Google AI Plus plan for university students on September 3, 2026, according to the Emirates News Agency. The offer covers the Gemini app, Gemini Notebook, image and video tools, and 400 GB of storage. Registered students in the UAE who are 18 or older can sign up at goo.gle/studentoffer26-uae before December 31, 2026.

Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, said the next phase is not just handing out tools. Students, he argued, need to learn how to use the models responsibly in study and research. The office said it will run virtual and in-person training with Google on Gemini and Gemini Notebook. WAM framed the program as part of the AI for All partnership that the office and Google started in 2024, and as an expansion after last year’s student intake.

Google’s MENA blog opened a wider Arab-world version of the same AI Plus year on September 1. That post lists Gemini 3.1 Pro, Deep Research, Gemini Omni video clips, Nano Banana image generation, and the Notebook tool that used to ship as NotebookLM. It also advertises student discounts on Google AI Pro and a Pro plus YouTube Premium bundle. The WAM notice is the UAE government primary for the local registration path and the training series.

Decoded Take

A free student tier is distribution, not a model launch. The UAE is buying familiarity with Gemini inside universities at the moment other Gulf states are writing checks for sovereign clusters and Arabic weights. That is cheaper than a data center and stickier if the cohort actually writes papers and apps on the stack. The risk is that “AI for All” becomes a branded login rather than a skills program. Watch the December 31 registration cutoff, whether the promised training produces a public syllabus, and whether the office later pairs this consumer access with a requirement that campus research stay on UAE-hosted models.