Empowering Instructors | Supporting Excellence
Learn how to combine generative AI image tools with PowerPoint to create short animations and looping GIFs. No video editing software or prior design experience required. This example demonstrates a simple workflow that introduces practical AI literacy skills while helping faculty and students create engaging visual content.
If you want to create animated videos, Generative AI can help with this. This is what I created from images. I began by writing a prompt that I loaded into a Generative AI tool. I wanted an eight panel image. The exact prompt I used is linked below. I brought the prompt into Google Gemini first, but I didn't love the output it gave me. I didn't like the petri dishes and it just wasn't quite what I was looking for. So, I moved from Google Gemini over into ChatGPT. I used the exact same prompt and I did like the image it gave me. It was eight panels, which is what I asked for. It gave me a few different options. When you're ready to work with your photo, first, if there's something in the actual photo you don't like, you always have the ability to select the area. You click on select area. What you can do is color over the part you don't like and then describe any edits you want to make to just that highlighted section. However, I didn't need to do any edits, so I went ahead and cancelled that. You also have the ability to save it, which launches your file explorer and allows you to download the image, or you have the ability to share it if you want to send the link to somebody else. Since I needed this image, I went ahead and downloaded it. You can do that from either the share button or the save button. Once I had the image, I brought it into PowerPoint. I began by changing the layout of my slides to blank. Then I went to insert picture this device.
Next, I browsed for where the image was saved and clicked on it to insert it. I reviewed the alt text down below just to make sure it was accessible. You can either approve it or edit it if needed. Once I was happy with it, I duplicated the slide by right-clicking and selecting duplicate slide. I did this eight times, one slide for each of the eight images. I came back to the very beginning, clicked on the picture, and cropped it so it only showed the very first panel. I adjusted the corners to select just the section I wanted. Then clicked crop to remove the rest. I change the height to 7.5.
Then align the picture to the center and middle of the slide.
I repeated this process for each of the eight panels. On the second slide, for example, I went to picture format, selected crop again, adjusted it to the second panel, and removed the rest. Then I adjusted the corners and clicked crop to finish. Again, I made the height 7.5, aligned it to the center, and aligned it to the middle. I repeated this for each of the eight images, one per slide. It was very quick and easy to do. Microsoft's picture editing tools work quite fast. All of the images were center aligned vertically and horizontally with a height of 7.5. Once I got them the way I liked them, I exported the slides as a GIF file by going to file, export, create animated GIF. Very important, check the box to make the background transparent. I also reduce the timing to 0.75 seconds on each slide to make the animation go a little faster. Then created the GIF. PowerPoint asks where you want to save it, so you can browse your files and save it wherever you'd like. You can see it exporting down below. And once it's finished, you'll have a nice animated GIF or MP4 file that you can use.
This example demonstrates how generative AI image tools and Microsoft PowerPoint can be combined to create short animations and looping GIFs using an accessible, beginner-friendly workflow. By writing a prompt, generating a multi-panel image with a generative AI platform, and exporting the final result directly from PowerPoint, faculty and students can create polished animated visuals without specialized software or advanced technical skills.
The video also illustrates how the same prompt can produce noticeably different outputs across AI platforms, using both ChatGPT and Google Gemini as examples. This provides a practical introduction to an important AI literacy concept: tool selection matters, and different generative AI systems may interpret prompts in unique ways.
This workflow is especially useful for faculty interested in integrating generative AI into teaching and learning in approachable, low-barrier ways. Instructors can use the technique to quickly create custom visual materials for their own courses or adapt it into student assignments that combine creativity, communication, and disciplinary thinking.
Because the workflow relies on tools many faculty and students already have access to — a generative AI platform and Microsoft PowerPoint — it avoids steep learning curves and additional software expenses. The assignment possibilities are flexible across disciplines, making the approach adaptable for sciences, humanities, professional programs, and beyond.
In addition to producing engaging visual content, the activity provides students with hands-on experience using AI tools critically and intentionally. Students practice refining prompts, evaluating generated outputs, comparing platform behavior, and making purposeful editing choices — transferable skills that support broader AI literacy development.