AI for presentations: what Copilot, Gemini and Alice AI really do, and where a designer still matters

What AI adds to an ordinary slide editor

Wikipedia describes a presentation program as a software package used to display information in the form of a slide show. It names three jobs: an editor for text, tools for images and media, and a slide-show system. PowerPoint has done those jobs since Forethought introduced it on the Macintosh in 1987, the same article notes. When people look for AI for presentations, they mean a fourth layer: a model that writes the outline, fills slides with text, picks layouts and draws pictures on request.

The honest way to see that layer is as a quick junior assistant. It does not know your market, your numbers or why this audience should say yes. So the machine produces a draft, while a person decides what the deck argues, checks every fact and makes it look like the company. The tools below are described as their makers document them, and those pages change often.

Copilot in PowerPoint, as Microsoft documents it

Microsoft’s support page on creating a presentation with Copilot in PowerPoint offers two starting points: a prompt or a reference file. Copilot may ask clarifying questions, for example who the target audience is, and then proposes an outline. You edit the outline in the chat before asking for slides and refine them in the same conversation. The page states that the result is AI-generated content that a person should review and edit.

The same page says Copilot works best with Word documents smaller than 24 MB and tries to use the images it finds in them. Slides with generated pictures get an AI-generated image source in the speaker notes. Only one output language is supported at a time. If the company has a standard template, Microsoft advises starting from that file, so that Copilot keeps the theme and builds slides from the existing layouts.

Microsoft’s FAQ for Copilot in PowerPoint adds the limits that depend on the licence. A home Copilot Pro subscription can base a deck on a single Word file; a work Microsoft Copilot licence also accepts a PDF and encrypted files. Copilot works only with .ppt and .pptx files. Microsoft expects quality to be highest in English and limits how many words Copilot processes per prompt, so a long report is better fed in parts.

Gemini in Google Slides and Alice AI from Yandex

Google’s help pages on Gemini in Slides list four abilities: generating images, generating new slides, summarising a presentation, and writing or rewriting content. New slides follow the current theme, and a Drive file can be referenced by typing @ and its name. The page on generating a slide adds the limits as Google currently describes them: one slide at a time, desktop and English only, and an eligible Workspace or Google AI plan. It is a tool for reworking a deck that exists, not for producing one from a sentence.

Russian-speaking users also have Alice AI. Yandex’s own page says the assistant will draw up a plan, analyse reports and research, write the texts and generate images for slides. It lists two limits: only one document can be uploaded to the chat, and Alice AI does not build charts, though it can prepare the data for one. Yandex tells the user to move the finished text into an editor and add the pictures there, so the layout stays your job.

Building a deck with AI, from the goal to the rehearsal

Start before any tool is open. Write one sentence about what the audience should do after the last slide: approve a budget, sign a contract, choose a supplier. Then note who will be in the room and what they already know, because a vague answer to the audience question produces a vague deck. With those two lines, ask the AI for an outline, not for slides. An outline is cheap to change, and slides built on a weak one only hide the weakness.

Turn the outline into a storyline: the problem, the proposal, the proof, what it takes in time or money, the next step. Keep one idea per slide and write it as a full sentence in the slide title, so that someone who reads only the titles still follows the argument. Microsoft’s advice on effective presentations says the audience should listen to you rather than read the screen. It also suggests avoiding fonts smaller than 18 pt.

Build data slides by hand from the source table, not from the model’s memory. Microsoft’s tips ask for only enough text to make chart labels comprehensible and for high contrast between background and text. Then read the deck as the audience will, compare every number and name with the original, and rehearse aloud. The same page advises practising until you can speak from bullet points.

What AI drafts well: outlines, rewrites, layouts and pictures

The strongest use is the empty page. Microsoft lists turning a Word file into a presentation among Copilot’s jobs, next to drafting content and generating summaries. Google lists rewriting content among the abilities of Gemini. Rewriting is underrated: a dense paragraph pasted onto a slide can become three short lines, and you can ask for another version as often as you like.

Layouts and pictures are the second strength, with a condition. When a deck starts from a proper template, Copilot reuses its layouts and Gemini keeps the theme, so the draft looks like one family. Generated images fill gaps where no photo exists, and Microsoft says Copilot pulls images licensed for Microsoft. The draft gets you to a deck that can be discussed, not to one that is finished.

Facts, figures and brand: where AI-made slides go wrong

Each maker warns about accuracy in its own documentation. Microsoft’s FAQ says content generated by Copilot in PowerPoint can be inaccurate or inappropriate and asks users to review, edit and verify it. Microsoft Learn adds that generative AI responses are not guaranteed to be 100% factual. Google’s help page says Gemini may suggest inaccurate or inappropriate information.

Numbers are the most fragile part. A model asked for a market size or a growth rate can produce a figure that sounds right and has nothing behind it, and a chart drawn from it looks as convincing as a real one. Dates, prices and the names of clients need the same care. Treat every number an AI writes as a placeholder until you find it in your own data or in a source you can name on the slide.

Brand consistency is the third weak point. According to Microsoft’s FAQ, using an organisation’s branding is only available with the work licence of Microsoft Copilot, and templates may need to be published in the Organization Asset Library. Without a template, every generated deck invents its own fonts, colours and picture style. Wikipedia records the older form of the problem: slides with low information density and a weak talk gave presentation software a reputation as a crutch for the poorly prepared.

Company files in AI slide tools: what Microsoft and Google promise

Before you attach a price list or a client database, find out which product and which account you are in. For Microsoft Copilot with a work account, Microsoft Learn states that prompts, responses and data accessed through Microsoft Graph are not used to train foundation models. Copilot only surfaces organisational data the user can at least view. Prompts are stored under the organisation’s agreement with Microsoft.

Google’s privacy hub for generative AI in Workspace says content is not reviewed by humans or used to train models outside your domain without permission. Gemini will not retrieve a document the user cannot open. Those promises cover qualifying Workspace editions. The consumer Gemini app is different: its privacy hub says a subset of chats is read by human reviewers, keeps reviewed chats for up to three years and asks people not to enter confidential information.

The working rule follows from those pages. Trade secrets, contract terms and clients’ personal data go only into a tool covered by your company’s agreement, and even there only what the slide needs. For any other service, Alice AI included, read its terms before attaching a file. If the deck holds personal data or material under a non-disclosure agreement, the law and the contract decide what may be uploaded, so check your own case with a lawyer.

Investor, sales and brand decks: when to bring in a designer

AI for presentations is enough for an internal update, a training session or a first draft for colleagues. A designer is worth involving when the deck stands in front of money: an investor deck, a sales presentation that managers send after every call, a launch deck that must match the brand. The work there is deciding what to cut, drawing charts that are honest at a glance and making a long deck feel like one company.

Prepare the same package either way: the goal and the audience in two sentences, the storyline, the figures with sources, the brand guidelines or template, and the AI draft if you have one. With it, try the tools yourself first. If the draft is close, finish it in-house. If it needs structure, honest charts and a brand system, VITON13 Studio is one place that does this work, and the guide below explains what the cost depends on.