The creative software giant is attracting millions of new users with AI, but investors are worried about when they’ll start paying the bills.

Adobe (ADBE) is playing a long game, and right now, Wall Street isn’t sure it wants to wait for the payoff. The company is aggressively pushing its new AI-powered tools, attracting a flood of new users with free offerings. On its latest earnings call, management celebrated that its “creative freemium MAU crossed 80 million, growing 50% year-over-year.” But it also conceded this strategy “dampens ARR in the short term.” That trade-off, sacrificing today’s revenue for tomorrow’s users, is making investors nervous. Compounding the issue is a “steeper decline than we…