How to make a PowerPoint presentation with AI

Step 1: Describe the deck in a sentence or two

The box starts "Create a presentation for…", so finish the sentence. Say who the audience is, list the sections you want in order, and name the outcome: to persuade, to teach or to report.

"An investor pitch for a vitamin C serum brand: the problem, our product, the market size, our traction, the team, and the raise."

One word, such as "skincare", gets you a generic deck; a sentence with sections gets you those sections.

Step 2: Pick a theme

The theme decides the whole look. There are 15, each previewed before you choose, with dark and light filters.

• Presenting on a big screen in a dim room: a dark theme, such as Midnight, Obsidian or Deep Ocean.
• A PDF people read on a laptop, or handouts you print: a light one, such as Paper, Ivory or Mist.
• Brand and lifestyle work: more colour, such as Aubergine, Crimson, Forest or Sand.

Step 3: Set the slides, the text and the language

• Slides: 1 to 30. Seven to ten suit a pitch, twelve to fifteen a training session, five a quick update; more slides on a small topic only spreads it thin.
• Text on each slide, from brief to extensive: brief if you will speak over it, detailed if people will read it without you.
• Language: pick it before you generate. The same topic and theme can be built again in another language.

Step 4: Turn AI Images on

AI Images starts off. Switch it on, and the slides that need one get an original picture made to match their content: the biggest difference on this screen between plain slides and a designed deck.

Pictures cost 8 media credits each, charged only for the slides that get one, on top of 2 media credits a slide. A 7-slide deck costs 14 media credits without pictures, and up to 70 media credits with them.

Step 5: Use Advanced Options when the default is not quite yours

• Format: the overall shape of the deck.
• Card split: how much lands on each slide.
• Text tone: formal, conversational or persuasive.
• Text audience: who is being addressed. Investors get market and traction; customers get benefits.
• Instructions: anything else, in your own words.

Step 6: Generate, preview and download

Press the arrow. A deck usually arrives in under a minute and is saved under My Presentations with its slide count, title and date; hover it to preview, download or delete it. If a deck cannot be made, it costs nothing.

The download is a real PowerPoint (.pptx) file: open it in PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides and edit every slide, word and picture. Treat it as a strong first draft, and polish the two or three slides that matter most.