Best AI Tools for Video Editors: How to Automate Your Workflow?

AI-powered tools are the new "must-have" assistant for video editors, automating the most repetitive and time-consuming parts of post-production. These tools handle tasks like transcribing dialogue, cleaning up bad audio, finding highlights, and removing objects, allowing you to move from the tedious technical work to the fun creative work much faster.

Here is a breakdown of the best AI tools, what part of the workflow they automate, and what they're best used for.

1. Dialogue & Rough Cut Automation

This is often the most time-consuming part of an edit. These tools help you find your story and build a rough cut in minutes, not hours.

Descript

• What it is: A text-based video editor.

• How it Automates: Descript transcribes your entire video, and you edit the footage by simply editing the text transcript. If you delete a sentence, it deletes the corresponding video clip. It also features "Studio Sound" for one-click audio cleanup and "Filler Word Removal" to instantly cut all the "ums" and "uhs."

• Workflow Part: Rough Cut & Audio Cleanup.

• Great For: Interviews, podcasts, tutorials, and anyone who edits dialogue-heavy content.

• Pricing: Free plan (1 hour/month), Creator plan (around $24/month), Pro plan (around $35/month).

  
  

Adobe Premiere Pro (Adobe Sensei)

• What it is: AI features built directly into the industry-standard NLE.

• How it Automates: Premiere's Text-Based Editing feature (powered by Sensei AI) does what Descript does, but natively in your timeline. It auto-transcribes, and you can create a rough cut by copying and pasting text. It also features "Generative Extend," which intelligently adds frames to a clip that is too short.

• Workflow Part: Rough Cut & Fine-Tuning.

• Great For: Editors already in the Adobe ecosystem who want to speed up their existing workflow without leaving their primary software.

• Pricing: Included with Premiere Pro (around $22.99/month as a single app).

  
  

Wondershare Filmora

• What it is: A user-friendly editor packed with AI features.

• How it Automates: Its standout automation feature is "AI Silence Detection." You can run it on a clip (or your whole timeline), and it will automatically find and cut all the dead air and pauses, presenting you with a pre-cut, tightened edit.

• Workflow Part: Rough Cut.

• Great For: Vloggers, YouTubers, and corporate video editors who need to quickly tighten up "talking head" footage.

• Pricing: Annual Plan (around $49.99/year) or a Perpetual License (around $79.99).

  
  

2. Audio Cleanup & Repair

Bad audio can ruin a great video. These tools automate the complex process of audio engineering.

DaVinci Resolve (Neural Engine)

• What it is: An all-in-one post-production suite.

• How it Automates: The (paid) Studio version's Neural Engine is famous for its "Voice Isolation" tool. It's a single slider that uses AI to separate dialogue from any background noise (wind, traffic, A/C hum). It also has "Dialogue Leveler" to automatically balance audio levels.

• Workflow Part: Audio Mixing & Repair.

• Great For: Professional editors who need powerful, integrated audio tools and want to avoid round-tripping to other software.

• Pricing: The free version is incredibly powerful. The paid Studio version (which includes most AI features) is a one-time purchase of $295.

  
  

Adobe Podcast Enhance

• What it is: A simple, web-based AI audio cleaner.

• How it Automates: This tool does one thing perfectly. You upload a low-quality audio file (e.g., recorded on a phone or in an echoey room), and its AI re-engineers it to sound like it was recorded in a professional studio.

• Workflow Part: Audio Repair.

• Great For: Anyone who needs to salvage unusable audio. It's a "magic bullet" for fixing bad dialogue.

• Pricing: Currently Free as part of Adobe Podcast's toolset.

  
  

3. Content Repurposing & Social Media

These tools automate the process of turning one long-form video into dozens of short-form clips.

Opus Clip

• What it is: An AI-powered video repurposing tool.

• How it Automates: You paste a single YouTube link (like a podcast or speech), and its AI analyzes the entire video to find the best "hooks" and highlights. It then automatically trims them into vertical shorts, adds dynamic captions, and reframes the speaker.

• Workflow Part: Content Repurposing.

• Great For: Social media managers, agencies, and creators who need to feed platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.

• Pricing: Free plan (limited credits), Starter (around $15/month), and Pro (around $29/month).

  
  

CapCut

• What it is: A fast, template-driven editor for social media.

• How it Automates: Its most-used feature is "Auto Captions." It creates trendy, animated, and highly accurate captions with one click. It also has AI-powered background removal and smart templates.

• Workflow Part: Captioning & Social Media.

• Great For: Creating quick, engaging, and professional-looking videos for social media.

• Pricing: The free version is very robust. The Pro plan (around $7.99/month) adds more cloud storage and AI features.

  
  

4. VFX & Footage Restoration

These tools automate complex, frame-by-frame tasks that used to take days.

Runway

• What it is: A powerful, web-based suite of AI magic tools.

• How it Automates: It automates high-end VFX. Its key features include "Remove Background" (instant, perfect rotoscoping) and "Object Removal" (paint over any moving object, and AI removes it from the shot). It also features text-to-video generation (Gen-2).

• Workflow Part: VFX & Cleanup.

• Great For: Creative editors and artists who want to add complex visual effects without needing to be a VFX specialist.

• Pricing: Free plan (limited credits); Standard plan (around $12/user/month) provides more credits.

  
  

Topaz Video AI

• What it is: A specialty app for enhancing footage.

• How it Automates: It automates the entire restoration process. It can upscale SD or HD footage to 4K, de-noise grainy low-light footage, de-interlace old media, and stabilize shaky clips, all with stunning clarity.

• Workflow Part: Restoration & Mastering.

• Great For: Editors who are given low-quality or archival footage from clients and need to make it look modern and professional.

• Pricing: One-time purchase of $299 (with annual updates).

  
  

Pictory

• What it is: A text-to-video generator.

• How it Automates: It automates the creation of B-roll sequences. You provide a script, and Pictory's AI reads it, understands the context, and automatically searches and assembles a video from a library of stock footage.

• Workflow Part: B-Roll Sourcing & Assembly.

• Great For: Content marketers and YouTubers who need to "faceless" videos (e.g., "Top 10..." lists) from a blog post or script.

• Pricing: Plans start around $19/month (billed annually).

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: Can AI replace me as a video editor?

A: No. AI automates the repetitive, non-creative tasks. It’s an assistant that handles the boring parts (like transcribing, finding pauses, or cleaning audio), freeing you up to focus on the art of editing—storytelling, pacing, emotion, and creativity.

Q: What is the best AI tool for editing interviews or podcasts?

A: Descript is the most popular choice for this. Its text-based editing workflow is built from the ground up to make editing spoken-word content as easy as editing a document.

Q: What is the best free AI tool for video editors?

A: DaVinci Resolve's free version is the most powerful. While some of its best AI features (like Voice Isolation) are in the paid Studio version, the free version still includes AI-powered speech-to-text, smart object tracking, and advanced color grading tools. Adobe Podcast Enhance is also a 100% free and invaluable tool for audio.

Q: Do I have to learn all new software?

A: Not necessarily. If you use Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, you can start using powerful AI features today without changing your software. The other tools (like Opus Clip or Descript) are specialty tools that are very easy to learn and solve one specific problem, so you only use them when you need them.