Make a slide deck with AI

Who is this for?

This page is for someone who has to put slides in front of other people: a meeting, a class talk, or a short deck for a group you are in. You know the decision the room has to make, or you know you do not know it yet. You want the story approved before any slide exists. Then you want slides, and then you want every fact and every number checked.

It is a work page with a school note. At work, you can use the deck after you have checked it. At school, you follow the class AI policy. You do not turn in a deck the tool wrote. The talk, if you give one, is still yours. The school rule on this site is the same one on Use AI for school the right way.

The outline, before any tool builds a file, is Build a PowerPoint outline. If the button inside PowerPoint is on your account, that path is Use Copilot in Word and PowerPoint. Rehearsing the talk is Practice a presentation out loud. The stops are Ask for a plan before the work and Check each phase before the next one.

Two products can build the slides themselves. Name them only when you can see them, and only for what the official pages say.

ChatGPT Slides, from OpenAI's release notes dated October 20, 2026: you can create a presentation and keep working on it with your team in Space. You can start from a conversation, files, or an outline, or share an example deck for the style. You can edit text, images, shapes, and charts, or ask ChatGPT to change them. You can present in ChatGPT. On the web you can export to PowerPoint, PDF, or Google Slides. The notes say it is rolling out to eligible Pro, Business, and Enterprise users with Space access, on the web and in the desktop app. To start, ask ChatGPT in Work to create a presentation in Space.

The matching help page, Creating and collaborating on slides in ChatGPT, says the same plans, and it says Slides is rolling out. If you do not see it, it may not be on your account. The help page says to open Work and ask ChatGPT to "create ChatGPT slides," and to describe the topic, the audience, and the material. You can attach source files. In Space, the path it names is Create, then Slide. It also says to review the text, figures, and layout before you share or present. This guide agrees, and it puts the outline approval before that ask.

Claude Slides, from Anthropic's October 8, 2026 announcement: Docs, Slides, and Design are out of beta and available on every Claude plan, including Free. The product announcements list dates that post October 8, 2026. Claude's artifacts help says the Docs, Slides, and Design templates are on all plans and on by default. On Enterprise plans, it says they turn on by default on October 15, 2026, and owners can turn them on before then. The same help page says a Slides artifact is a presentation built from your notes, reports, or the work already in the chat. You can edit a slide directly, present without leaving Claude, and export to PowerPoint or PDF. The help page also says decks can go straight to Google Slides as editable files. If you do not see it, the help page says artifacts need the file-creation setting turned on.

Neither page says the tool checks your facts. You do that after the slides exist.

What do you need before you start?

Gather the items below before you open the chat. You already have most of them.

• The decision the room must make, in one sentence. If you do not know it, that is the first thing to write, not the theme
• Who is in the room, and how many minutes you have
• The facts and numbers you are willing to say out loud, copied from a source you have open
• The class AI policy, if this is for school. If the policy is "no AI," stop

You can approve an outline in any free chat. ChatGPT Slides and Claude Slides are optional, and only when your account shows them.

How do you name the decision the room must make?

A deck without a decision becomes a tour of topics. Write the decision before you ask for slides. "Approve the new hire" is a decision. "Q3 update" is a label. If you cannot write the sentence, ask for questions, not slides.

Do not make slides yet.

I need one sentence: the decision this room has to make.
Room: [who]. Time: [minutes].
What I know: [facts you can defend].
What I will not claim: [numbers or promises you do not have].

Give me 2 possible decision sentences. For each, say which of my facts it uses.
Do not add a fact. Then stop.

Pick one sentence and edit it in your own words. That sentence is the title of the talk, even if it never appears in that wording on slide 1. Ask for a plan before the work starts here: the decision is the plan's first line.

Work is the prompt above. Use it for a meeting where someone has to leave with a yes, a no, or a next step.

School, for a talk you will give. Follow the class AI policy. Do not ask for a deck to turn in.

This is for learning. Do not write a deck I will turn in. Follow my teacher's rules.

Class: [name]. Time I have to speak: [minutes].
The question the teacher asked: [paste the question, not "write the slides"].
My point, in my words: [one sentence you wrote].
Facts I can point to in the reading: [short list].

Give me 2 ways I could state the point, using only those facts.
Then ask me which one I mean. Do not make slides. Then stop.

Life, for a small group that has to choose: a club, a family trip, a building meeting. A price is not real until you have seen it.

Do not make slides yet. Do not invent prices or dates.

Decision we have to make: [one sentence, or "I need help writing the sentence"].
People: [who]. Time: [minutes].
Facts I already checked: [list].
Budget or limit I set: [amount or other limit].

Give me one decision sentence and the three facts that have to be on the table.
Mark anything I did not type as NOT IN MY NOTES. Then stop.

How do you approve an outline before any slides?

The outline is a list of sentences, one per slide. You read it. You cut a sentence that is not the decision. You fix a number. Only then do you say yes. A tool that can build a deck will happily skip this. Do not let it.

The outline guide is the longer version of this step: Build a PowerPoint outline. Use it if you want the story beaten flat before you come back here.

Decision sentence I approved: [paste it].
Time: [minutes]. Facts you may use, and no others:
[paste]

Give me an outline only. One line per slide. Each line is a sentence, not a topic label.
End on the decision or the ask.
Do not design slides, pick colors, or add a number I did not type.
Then stop and wait for my approval.

Read the lines out loud. If a line does not move the decision forward, cut it. If you cannot say a line without reading a paragraph, it is not a slide yet. Send the edited outline back. That reply is the approval. "Looks fine" is not one. The gate is Approve the plan before it continues, if you want the longer version of that stop.

How do you make the slides from the outline you approved?

Paste the approved outline. Say that new facts are forbidden. Then, if your account shows the tool, ask it to build the file. If it does not, build the file yourself from the same outline. Both are success.

ChatGPT, only if you see Slides. The help page's phrase is "create ChatGPT slides," in Work, with the topic, the audience, and the material. Attach the outline. In Space, the help page says Create, then Slide.

Create the slides from this approved outline only.
Audience: [who]. Length: [minutes].
Outline:
[paste the approved lines]

Do not add a slide, a number, a quote, or a claim that is not in the outline.
After the file, list every number on the slides and the outline line it came from.
If a number is not in the outline, delete it before you finish.
Then stop.

Claude, only if you see the Slides template. The help page says you can ask in the chat, choose Output and then the template, or start from the Artifacts tab.

Turn this approved outline into slides. Use only these lines.
Audience: [who].
Outline:
[paste]

Do not add facts. Do not add a chart unless every number on it is in the outline.
When the deck is ready, list any line you were tempted to add and confirm you left it out.
Then stop.

No Slides button, and no Copilot button in PowerPoint: open PowerPoint or Google Slides and make one slide per approved line. Put the sentence in the title. Three bullets at most. The Copilot path, when the button is in the app, is Use Copilot in Word and PowerPoint. Microsoft's button is a different product from ChatGPT Slides and from Claude Slides. Do not mix up a missing button with a prompt problem.

How do you check every fact and number before you present?

This is the checkpoint. Check each phase before the next one means you do not present on a deck you have not compared to the outline.

Open the source for every number. A chart is a claim. A quote is a claim. If the line is not in your notes or in the file you attached, delete it. The phrase to require, when you ask the chat to help with this pass, is on Answer only from your sources.

Here is the outline I approved, and here are the slides.
Do not redesign them.

For each slide, list:
- any number, name, or date
- the outline line it came from, or NOT IN THE OUTLINE
- what I should open if you cannot point at my outline

Do not fix the slides yet. Then stop.

You delete or you rewrite. Then you look at the file again. OpenAI's help says to review the text, figures, and layout before you share. Exporting to PowerPoint, PDF, or Google Slides can change formatting. Open the exported file and read it. Claude's help says the export is PowerPoint, PDF, or an editable Google Slides file. Open that file too. A pretty preview is not the file your audience will see.

If you will say the talk out loud, rehearse on Practice a presentation out loud. Practice does not replace the fact check.

What does a worked example look like?

You have eight minutes with your boss. The decision is whether to move a weekly meeting to a written update. You write that sentence. The chat offers a second sentence about "transforming collaboration." You delete it. Your facts are three: the meeting runs 45 minutes, two people already send notes, and you are not claiming a productivity number. You put those three in the outline prompt and forbid new numbers.

The outline comes back with six sentences. One slide says the team will save five hours a week. You did not type that. You cut the slide and send the outline back as approved. Only then do you ask for slides.

You do not see ChatGPT Slides on your account. The help page says that can happen. You paste the same outline into Claude, where Slides is available on your plan, or you build six slides yourself. Either way you run the check. The five-hour claim is gone. The 45 minutes is still there, and it matches your note. You export, you open the file, and you read the titles once more. Then you present.

For a class, the same outline is practice. You speak from sentences you can defend in the reading. You do not upload the tool's deck as the assignment. If the policy says not to use the tool at all, you stop at your own outline on paper.

What mistakes should you avoid?

These are the misses that waste the result. Skip them before you send anything.

Common mistakes

• Asking for a finished deck in the first message.
• Letting a template add a statistic you cannot point to.
• Skipping the outline because ChatGPT Slides or Claude Slides can build a file.
• Presenting the preview without opening the exported PowerPoint or Google Slides file.
• Turning in, for class, a deck the tool wrote.
• Treating Copilot in PowerPoint, ChatGPT Slides, and Claude Slides as the same button.

When should you not use AI for this?

Some jobs should stay with you. If one of these is true, close the chat.

• The class AI policy says not to use these tools for the assignment. Follow the policy.
• You do not yet know the decision. Write the sentence first. Slides are the wrong first step.
• The numbers are not in a file you can open. Do not let the deck invent them.
• You need a brand template, a legal review, or a number from finance. Those come from the people who own them, not from a slide tool.

What should you keep private?

Paste the outline and the facts the room is allowed to hear. Leave out customer lists, health details, unpublished financials, and a student's private record. A work deck belongs in the work account your company named. A school deck follows the school's tool rules. The wider rule is Keep your data private with AI.

What should you check before you use it?

Answer each line before you present or turn anything in.

Director check: look before you use it

• Can you say the decision in one sentence without looking at a slide? If not, the deck is early.
• Did you approve the outline before the file existed? If the tool built slides first, go back and cut to the outline.
• Does every number trace to a line you supplied or a source you opened? If not, delete it.
• Did you open the exported file, not only the preview? Formatting changes. Read the titles.
• If this is for class, does the policy allow this use, and is the deck still your words? If either answer is no, do not turn it in.
• Could you give the talk if the file failed to open? If the story is only in the tool, it is not your talk yet.

What is one extra tip?

Keep the outline guide next to this one. Build a PowerPoint outline is the story. This page is the file, after the story is approved. When the PowerPoint ribbon shows Copilot, use Use Copilot in Word and PowerPoint for that button, and still check the numbers. The plan stop is Ask for a plan before the work. The fact stop is Check each phase before the next one. More decks are on Presentations.