Creating PowerPoint presentations with AI: The best free tools

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If you want to create PowerPoint presentations with AI, there are various free tools you can use.

Creating PowerPoint presentations with AI for free: Here’s how

PowerPoint itself does not yet include a free AI tool. However, there are various online tools you can use.

• The beginning works the same for all of these applications: First, enter the topic for which you want to create a presentation. You can also keep the layout and structure of the presentation in mind. In many cases, you can then select a presentation template that you like.

• In the next step, the generative AI starts working. It creates an outline for the topic you have specified and researches information on each point. It then selects the most important points and puts them on the slides. It also searches for images and tries to find slide layouts that are as varied as possible.

• Most providers give you a certain number of credits free of charge, which are used up when generating content using artificial intelligence. If you need more credits, you have to pay for them.

• The best-known providers offering free credits include Decktopus and Simplified. Below you will find a comparison and various free tools.

• Tip: Before creating your content, make sure that exporting is possible and also free of charge if you want to send your presentation in a common format or use it offline.

Decktopus, Simplified, and Presentations.ai: A comparison of the tools

Each of the tools presented works slightly differently. These are the most important features of each:

• Decktopus is the best choice if you want to collaborate with others. It allows you to create joint presentation slides for lectures and pitches with the support of AI. The “AI Presenter Coach” can help you prepare for your presentation. It gives tips and answers questions that the audience might ask.

• Presentations.AI learns over time to implement your slide style and integrate it into the generated design suggestions. This makes it suitable for company presentations where a specific corporate identity must be observed. The app is compatible with PowerPoint.

• Beautiful.AI uses “smart slides” that automatically adapt to the content. This allows you to create an appealing presentation from your content in no time at all, without any design skills, and win over your audience.

• Presentations.AI currently (as of August 2025) has a completely free version as long as it is in the beta phase. It generates entire slide sets from a text prompt, curating all the necessary content.

• Gamma also offers a free version. This allows you to fine-tune your slides, for example by requesting revisions or new suggestions for the slide layout, or by having your text rephrased in a specific tone.

Using Copilot in PowerPoint

Microsoft has built its own generative AI based on GPT-4 into PowerPoint. Microsoft Copilot is not included in the regular Office subscription and must be purchased separately. For private individuals, it costs 22 euros per month and can be purchased on this website. However, you may have or be able to obtain a license for Copilot through your employer. The subscription, called Microsoft 365 Copilot, costs €28.10 per user per year in addition to the normal price for Microsoft 365 and includes chat and integration with Office apps as well as AI agents in Copilot Studio. On the linked page, you can see a list of supported languages, subscriptions, and Office packages.

• If Copilot is available to you, you will see a “Copilot” button in the top right corner of the function menu in PowerPoint. Clicking on it will open a chat window on the right side of your screen where you can give instructions to Copilot.

• For example, ask Copilot to create a presentation on a specific topic: “Create a presentation on [topic]”.

• You can also ask questions about the content of your existing slides. Copilot analyzes your presentation and answers your questions.

• You can find more examples of possible prompts on the PowerPoint help pages. Companies can also use Copilot to create presentations in their corporate identity.

Incorporate AI-generated content

You can also use an LLM such as ChatGPT to create your content and then incorporate it into your slide set.

• Start with the general topic to formulate it more precisely. Formulate a prompt such as: “I need to prepare a presentation for [occasion]. Help me find an appealing title for the topic [presentation topic]. Make a list of suggestions.” You can also add the specific target audience.

• In the next step, ask the AI to develop an outline for your presentation. Simply reply to the previous chat history. Ask questions or offer criticism until you are satisfied.

• Now generate slide content or a speaker’s text. Ask the LLM to generate these for the first outline point and, if necessary, ask for corrections again. Then, simply write “Now generate the same for the next outline point” until you are done.

• You can also generate images that you want to insert into your slides. To do this, describe as precisely as possible what you need and also specify the style of the image, e.g., whether it should be photorealistic or an illustration.

• Be sure to check all content generated by the LLM. Ask for sources, but read them yourself and do your own research. Not everything that an LLM generates for you is correct—even if it sounds plausible at first. An LLM can help you with your research and is very good at formulating texts. However, the actual work, i.e., checking the content, structuring it, and checking the target, is up to you.

• In the future, AI could take on additional tasks for you, such as generating explanatory graphics, videos, and complex animations for your slides, offering voice output or live translation, integrating data and embedding and visualizing it in your slides, inserting dynamic content that updates in real time or that your audience can interact with, and much more. It will be exciting to see how this rapidly developing technology will change.

• Please also note that from August 2026, certain AI-generated content will be subject to mandatory labeling in the EU. This applies in particular to content that could be confused with real current events and is intended to prevent the spread of fake news.