AI & Presentations

Introduction

Making presentations used to be a slog. You’d open up a blank slide deck, stare at it for a while, and then start dragging boxes around until something looked halfway decent. Now, with AI in the mix, the whole process feels a lot less painful—and honestly, a lot more fun. Join me on a journey of vibe-writing presentations and actually having fun creating them.

What’s Out There? (And What Do They Actually Do?)

A bunch of brands are jumping into the AI presentation game, each with their own spin:

  • Canva: Probably the most approachable. Magic Write and Magic Design are the real stars—type what you want, and it spits out layouts, images, and even slide content. It’s like having a design buddy who never gets tired.
  • Beautiful.ai: This one’s all about smart templates. You pick a style, and it keeps everything looking sharp and consistent, no matter how many slides you add.
  • Pitch: Great for teams. It uses AI to help with slide generation and makes collaboration feel less like herding cats.
  • Tome: Kind of wild—you give it a prompt, and it builds a whole presentation, images and all. Feels a bit like magic. All of these use some flavor of AI model under the hood. They’re trained to understand what makes a slide look good, how to organize info, and even how to write decent text. The result: less fiddling, more doing.

Vibe Writing a Presentation

There’s something about sitting down to write a presentation that can actually be a vibe. It’s not just about getting the information across—it’s about setting the mood, picking the right colors, and finding that perfect image or phrase that makes the whole thing pop. And when you throw AI into the mix, things can get hilarious in the best way possible.

Starting a presentation with AI sometimes feels like having a slightly eccentric co-writer. You type in a prompt, and suddenly you’re getting slide titles that sound like motivational posters, or bullet points that are just a little too enthusiastic. Sometimes the AI suggests something so off-the-wall that you can’t help but laugh. In a corporate world that can feel a bit too serious, these moments add a smile to your face and remind you that creativity is supposed to be fun.

Honestly, those unexpected AI suggestions can spark new ideas or just lighten the mood. It’s a reminder that making presentations doesn’t have to be a chore—it can actually be a good time.

How Does This Actually Help?

At Home

Let’s say you’re making a slideshow for a family event or a hobby project. Instead of spending hours picking fonts and resizing images, you just tell the AI what you want. It’ll suggest layouts, pull in relevant images, and even help write the text. You get something that looks polished without having to become a designer overnight. Create collages for birthdays or just to revisit an old vacation. AI can remix your experiences and help you remember them even longer.

At Work

This is where things get really interesting. In a corporate setting, time is always tight. AI tools help you:

Whip up decks for meetings or pitches in minutes Keep everything on-brand without thinking about hex codes or logo placement Collaborate with teammates without endless back-and-forth Focus on the story, not the formatting The boilerplate stuff—title slides, agendas, summaries—gets handled automatically. You spend less time prepping and more time actually thinking about what you want to say.

That said, in the work I do, I personally don’t use AI for presentations because of the sensitive nature of the information I handle. If I could, I absolutely would—AI would save a ton of time and make the process smoother. But for now, it’s a no-go for me at work.

A Word of Advice:

Don’t Use AI for Study Work and Teaching!

I heavily advise against using AI for study work and teaching. When learning or teaching others, making a presentation is actually a big part of the learning process. Writing your thoughts down—whether on paper or in a presentation—helps you solidify the information you’ve learned. It’s not just about the final slides; it’s about the act of organizing your ideas, figuring out what matters, and putting it all together in your own words. That’s where real understanding happens. Skipping that step by letting AI do all the work means missing out on a huge part of the learning journey.

Speeding Dev work

This is mainly a dev-focused blog, so I had to include how AI can speed up your development work.

Demo Web Interfaces: Showing, Not Just Telling One of the coolest things AI can do now is generate demo web interfaces. If you’re pitching a product to a client, you can show them a realistic mockup—no coding required. The AI builds out a sample interface so everyone can see what the final product might look like. It’s a huge help for getting feedback early and making sure everyone’s on the same page before the real development starts.

Final Thoughts

AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s actually making presentations better and faster for everyone. Whether you’re at home or in the office, these tools help you skip the grunt work and focus on what matters: telling your story. Personally, I find the process of creating presentations fun and engaging, so I don’t always lean on AI for generating images or writing the main text. But I do use AI all the time for grammar and spelling mistakes—it’s a lifesaver there. And honestly, sometimes just messing around with AI when starting a presentation can be hilarious and add a bit of joy to the day. In a world that’s often way too serious, that little spark of fun is more valuable than ever. As the tech keeps getting better, expect even more ways to make your workflow smoother (and maybe even a little more fun).

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