You’ve probably seen the slick videos on social media where someone types a single sentence and—poof—a full presentation appears. That’s Tome. Or, at least, that’s what it used to be. Lately, if you've tried to log in, you might notice things look a little different. It’s not just a "slideshow maker" anymore. Honestly, the way people talk about it is often stuck in 2023, but the platform has moved on to something much more focused on sales and research.
What is Tome?
At its core, Tome is a canvas. It’s a generative AI tool designed to build multimedia "tomes"—which are essentially a hybrid between a pitch deck, a landing page, and a long-form document. Unlike PowerPoint, which forces you into a rigid 4:3 or 16:9 box, Tome uses a responsive tile system. It’s fluid. If you add a 3D model or a live data tweet, the rest of the page just... moves. It’s smart like that.
Founders Keith Peiris and Henri Liriani, both former Instagram product leads, started the company to kill the "boring meeting." They didn't want people just reading bullet points off a screen. They wanted something that felt more like a living story. When the AI boom hit, they integrated OpenAI’s GPT-4 and DALL-E models, which skyrocketed them to millions of users faster than almost any other productivity app at the time.
The Shift from Presentations to Sales Tasks
For a while, everyone used it for school projects or birthday invitations. That’s over. Tome has recently pivoted hard toward the "B2B" (business-to-business) space. If you go to their site today, you’ll see they are doubling down on sales and marketing teams.
Why the change? Because generating a generic 8-slide deck about "The History of Pizza" is a parlor trick. It doesn’t solve a business problem. Now, the tool focuses on things like Sales Personalization and Research. Instead of a blank page, a salesperson can ingest a company’s URL, and Tome will scrape the site to build a tailored pitch. It’s less about "make me a deck" and more about "help me sell this specific thing to this specific person."
How the generative engine works
The magic happens through a process called multi-modal generation. When you give it a prompt, the system doesn't just write text. It segments the prompt into "intents."
- Layout generation: It decides if you need a side-by-side comparison or a full-width image.
- Text generation: Usually powered by a mix of LLMs (Large Language Models), often favoring GPT-4o for its nuance.
- Image generation: It uses DALL-E or Stable Diffusion to create visuals that (hopefully) match the vibe of the text.
It’s not perfect. Sometimes the images look a bit "AI-ish"—you know, those slightly too-shiny faces or weirdly shaped hands. But for a quick mockup? It’s lightyears faster than hunting through Getty Images.
Why Everyone Is Talking About "The Tome" Suddenly
Google Discover loves Tome because it’s visually striking. When a creator shares a "Tome," it’s a web link, not a file download. This makes it highly shareable and easy for Google to index. People are searching for it because it represents a shift in how we think about "documents."
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Think about the last PDF you opened on your phone. You probably had to pinch and zoom like a maniac. It's a terrible experience. Tome solves this by being "mobile-responsive" by default. The tiles stack. The text stays readable. It’s basically a website that pretends to be a document.
The Competition
It’s a crowded room now. You’ve got Gamma, which is probably Tome’s biggest rival right now. Gamma is a bit more flexible for general users who just want a pretty website quickly. Then there’s Canva’s Magic Design, which is great if you already live in the Canva ecosystem. And, of course, the 800-pound gorillas: Microsoft Copilot in PowerPoint and Google Gemini in Slides.
But Tome still holds its own because it doesn't feel like a legacy app with AI bolted on. It was built for AI from day one. That architecture allows for things like "Dwell," their analytics feature that shows you exactly which "pages" a client spent the most time reading. PowerPoint can’t really tell you if your boss skipped slide four, but Tome can.
Misconceptions You Should Probably Ignore
One big myth is that Tome is "free forever." It used to be very generous with its "credits." Now? Not so much. You get a taste, and then you have to pay. For professional use, the $16-$20 per month (depending on the plan) is standard for the industry, but don't expect to run a whole business for free.
Another misconception is that it does the thinking for you. It doesn't. If you give it a lazy prompt, you get a lazy result. The most successful users treat it as a "First Draft Machine." You let it build the skeleton, then you go in and add the meat. You change the tone. You swap the AI images for real photos of your product.
The Technical Reality of AI Decks
The tech isn't just "writing." It’s "structuring."
When you use the Tome AI, it utilizes a proprietary "recursive" layout engine. This means the AI isn't just placing things on a grid; it's understanding the relationship between the content pieces. If you have a long paragraph, it knows not to put a tiny image next to it. It balances the visual weight of the page. This is something that standard "templates" in older software just can't do.
The Problem with Hallucinations
We have to be real here: AI lies sometimes. If you ask Tome to create a market research report on a niche industry, it might invent statistics. It’s an LLM-based tool, so it’s prone to "hallucinations." Always, and I mean always, fact-check the numbers it spits out. It’s great at structure; it’s hit-or-miss on deep factual accuracy.
How to Actually Use Tome Effectively
If you’re a founder, a freelancer, or a student, stop using the "Generate" button for everything. Instead, use the Document to Tome feature. Take your messy, 5-page Word document, paste it in, and let it turn it into a structured presentation. This is where the tool actually shines. It summarizes the fluff and highlights the key takeaways.
Also, lean into the interactive elements. You can embed:
- Figma prototypes for design reviews.
- Airtable bases for project tracking.
- YouTube videos that play directly in the tile.
- Typeforms to collect data from the person viewing the Tome.
This turns a static "look at this" moment into a "do something with this" moment.
Real-World Use Cases
- Startup Pitch Decks: Instead of sending a 20MB PDF that clogs up an investor’s inbox, send a link. You can see when they opened it and what they looked at.
- Onboarding Guides: HR teams use it to create "Welcome to the Team" tomes that feel way more personal than a dry handbook.
- Project Proposals: Freelancers use the "Brand Kit" feature to make sure the AI-generated colors match their specific logo exactly.
What’s Next for the Platform?
Expect more "Agentic" features. We are moving toward a world where the AI doesn't just build the deck but also suggests when to send it. Imagine a tool that looks at your calendar, sees a meeting with a specific client, and automatically drafts a Tome based on your previous email thread. That's the direction the team is heading.
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They are also focusing heavily on Workspaces. This is for teams that need to collaborate in real-time. It’s very much like a Google Doc in that sense—you see the little icons of your teammates moving around the page.
Actionable Steps to Master Tome
To get the most out of the platform right now, don't just play with the "surprise me" prompts. Follow these specific steps to create a high-value document:
- Define your "Theme" first: Before generating content, set your brand colors and fonts. If you let the AI pick, it usually goes for a dark-mode "tech" look that might not fit your brand.
- Use the "Reference" feature: If you're building a sales deck, provide the AI with a URL. This prevents it from making up services you don't actually offer.
- Audit the "Tiles": Click into each generated section. Use the "Rewrite" tool on specific sentences rather than regenerating the whole page. This gives you much finer control over the voice.
- Check the Analytics: If you send a Tome to a client, check the "Dwell" time 24 hours later. If they spent 5 minutes on the pricing page and 10 seconds on the "About Us" page, you know exactly what to talk about in your follow-up call.
- Export as PDF (If you must): While the web link is better, sometimes corporate firewalls are annoying. Use the "Export" function to keep a static backup for offline presentations.
The reality is that "The Tome" isn't a magic wand. It's a high-speed construction kit. It removes the friction of formatting, which is usually the most soul-crushing part of creating a presentation. Use it to build the bones, but keep your own hands on the steering wheel for the final Polish.