Adobe Is Inviting Figma Users to Test a New AI Design Tool. Should Investors Worry?

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) is asking designers who use Figma, Inc. (NYSE:FIG) and similar tools to help test Project Oasis, a web-based graphic-design tool with brand-aware AI. The September 7 community invitation seeks feedback under a nondisclosure agreement before public launch. That makes it an early competitive signal, with neither customer wins nor meaningful revenue established.

The investment question is whether easier AI design draws marketing budgets toward Adobe or encourages customers to do more inside Figma. Both already serve people creating branded visual material. Winning that workflow could support subscriptions and paid AI usage, but another tool also gives customers another reason to compare prices.

Adobe has resources. Figma has momentum.

Adobe Inc. reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $6.62 billion, up 13%, for the period ended May 29. Its AI-first annualized recurring revenue exceeded $500 million and more than tripled year over year. Those figures give its AI strategy substance beyond a product invitation. Its established creative customer base could also make testing and distribution easier.

The risk is that product experimentation fails to produce additional spending. Adobe must persuade customers that new capabilities deserve payment while competitors make basic asset creation easier. Oasis currently provides no disclosed conversion rate or financial contribution with which investors can test that proposition. Its invitation targets brand-identity and marketing workflows, so success would need to solve repeatable production problems. Generating an attractive demonstration is a different hurdle from becoming the tool a team pays to use every week.

Figma, Inc. enters the contest with second-quarter revenue up 48% to $370.1 million. Its first full quarter of AI-credit monetization and 136% net dollar retention support the case that existing customers will spend more across its platform. However, GAAP gross margin fell from 89% to 84%. Rapid growth is less valuable if delivering it persistently consumes more of each sales dollar.

Positioning predates this invitation

Insider Monkey tracked 81 funds holding Adobe at June 30, versus 86 at March 31. Arrowstreet trimmed its share count by approximately 0.08% to 6,787,022. Figma’s count rose from 51 to 52; Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital retained 4,396,636 shares, unchanged. These quarter-end disclosures reveal neither current positions nor a reaction to Oasis.

Figma’s August 14 short interest was 42,243,261 shares, or 13.7% of float, with 1.5 days to cover. That dated positioning adds context without proving a squeeze or explaining anyone’s motives. The useful next evidence is commercial: Adobe converting its experiment into paying usage, and Figma maintaining customer expansion without further margin erosion.

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