Luma AI Expands Into Riyadh To Power Wave Of AI-Driven Creativity In MENA

The Riyadh office represents more than a regional outpost. It will serve as a central hub for collaboration with HUMAIN, engagement with regional enterprises, and technical development aimed at building culturally fluent AI systems tailored to Arabic-speaking markets.

Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder of Luma AI, emphasized that Saudi Arabia represents a strategic base for the company’s regional ambitions. “Saudi Arabia is the natural home for our regional headquarters in MENA. The Kingdom has one of the most ambitious and technically capable workforces in the world. Establishing a local office allows Luma AI to work directly with this next generation of builders and creators, while developing AI that is deeply connected to the region it serves. We are proud to establish our presence in Riyadh, aimed to deepen our partnership with HUMAIN and support the delivery of high-quality content."

Luma has positioned itself at the forefront of multimodal generative AI, developing models capable of producing high-quality visual and video content. As creative industries increasingly integrate generative tools into daily workflows, the ability to adapt those systems to local language and cultural nuance is becoming critical. Through its collaboration with HUMAIN Create, Luma intends to contribute to AI models trained with regional datasets and priorities, helping ensure that outputs reflect the cultural context of MENA audiences rather than relying solely on globally generalized training data.

HUMAIN Create is part of Saudi Arabia’s broader AI ambitions, which aim to position the Kingdom as a significant player in the global artificial intelligence ecosystem. The collaboration with Luma underscores a strategic focus on developing Arabic-native, culturally aligned AI systems that can support creators, brands, and organizations across sectors.

Tareq Amin, CEO of HUMAIN, described the office launch as a significant milestone in expanding the partnership and strengthening regional AI capabilities. “This new office marks a major step forward in deepening our collaboration with Luma AI. Through HUMAIN Create, we are accelerating the development of Arabic-native, culturally fluent AI systems that enable creators, brands, and organizations across the region. Our collaboration with Luma AI is supported by frontier compute through Project Halo, a large-scale 2GW AI supercluster under development in Saudi Arabia that will provide frontier training and inference capacity to power next-generation generative AI applications at scale. Together, we are redefining how intelligence, creativity, and scale come together in the next era of AI-driven content.”

In parallel, Luma’s expansion strengthens its relationship with Publicis Groupe Middle East, a major communications and marketing network operating across the region. Under the partnership, Luma’s generative AI technologies will be integrated into Publicis’ creative workflows, enabling the agency to leverage AI-powered video and visual content generation at scale.

For Publicis, the collaboration reflects a broader shift within the communications industry. Generative AI is no longer viewed simply as a supplementary production tool; it is increasingly embedded into the early stages of campaign ideation and development. By formalizing Luma as a key technology partner in the region, Publicis signals its intention to integrate AI deeply into its creative strategy, potentially accelerating production timelines while maintaining localization standards required across diverse MENA markets.

The Riyadh office will also involve local hiring across engineering, technical, and market-facing roles, reinforcing Saudi Arabia’s efforts to cultivate domestic AI expertise. Establishing a permanent presence in the Kingdom allows Luma to work directly with clients and partners in the region rather than operating remotely, potentially accelerating product refinement and adoption.

The expansion comes amid intensifying global competition in generative AI, as companies seek not only technological leadership but also geographic diversification. By embedding itself within Saudi Arabia’s national AI ecosystem, Luma aligns with a regional strategy focused on long-term infrastructure, talent development, and localized AI capabilities.

Businesses and creative agencies across MENA now have expanding access to advanced generative tools tailored to regional audiences. As AI-generated media becomes more embedded in advertising, digital communications, and brand storytelling, close access to technical infrastructure and culturally adapted models could become a decisive advantage.

Luma’s Riyadh launch illustrates how generative AI companies are increasingly building regional ecosystems rather than exporting one-size-fits-all technology. By combining local collaboration with global AI capabilities, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of creativity, culture, and computation, a space that continues to define the next phase of AI-driven innovation in the Middle East.