YouTube’s New AI Video Editor Lets Creators Edit Footage Just by Talking to It

YouTube is introducing an AI video editor that lets creators change their footage by simply describing what they want, potentially removing some of the most time-consuming parts of making videos.

The new conversational editor is coming to YouTube Shorts and YouTube Create, YouTube’s free video-editing app for making Shorts and longer videos. Instead of finding individual editing controls, creators will be able to give the AI instructions using everyday language and then continue the conversation to refine the result.

YouTube demonstrated the technology using creator Happy Kelli and footage of her dancing in several different outfits. She asked the AI to select the best take featuring each outfit, before telling it to add music and transitions between the clips.

Creators will also be able to ask the editor to remove pauses, rearrange footage or change the pacing of a video. If the AI does something they don’t like, they can continue editing the result themselves rather than being stuck with whatever the system produces.

That makes this different from an AI video generator. The technology isn’t necessarily creating an entire video from nothing. Instead, it can work with footage someone has already filmed and help turn those clips into a finished edit.

YouTube says the conversational editor will initially be available to a limited number of creators before expanding more widely.

The company is also experimenting with AI elsewhere on the platform, including new ways for viewers to create personalised feeds by describing exactly what they want to watch. However, the conversational editor represents a particularly direct use of AI because it could change the actual process of making videos for YouTube.

For someone unfamiliar with professional editing software, instructions such as choosing the best clips, cutting awkward pauses and adding transitions could previously require learning where different tools were located and how to use them.

YouTube’s approach turns some of that process into a conversation. The creator still decides what the finished video should look like, but instead of performing every individual edit manually, they can tell the AI what they want it to do.