What are the best AI tools for professional video editing?

Question

Hey fellow editors! I’ve been working as a freelance video editor for about five years now, primarily sticking to the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem. While I love the control Premiere and After Effects give me, I’m starting to feel the burn of these increasingly tight deadlines. My clients are frequently asking for quick-turnaround social media versions of long-form corporate interviews, and the manual labor of cutting out 'ums,' framing shots for vertical, and adding captions is starting to eat up my entire week.

I’ve seen a ton of buzz lately about AI-integrated tools, but honestly, it’s hard to tell what’s just a gimmick and what’s actually ready for a high-end professional workflow. I’m looking for tools that don't just 'make a video for you' but actually assist in the heavy lifting of a pro edit. For instance, I’ve been looking into Topaz Video AI for upscaling some older 1080p archival footage to 4K, and I've dabbled a bit with Descript for text-based editing. While Descript is great for the initial rough cut, I find myself struggling to integrate it back into a complex Premiere timeline without a headache.

My main constraints are output quality and reliability. I can’t afford to use tools that spit out glitchy artifacts or low-bitrate files that won't hold up on a large display. I’m also curious if people are finding better luck with generative tools like Runway for creating specific B-roll shots, or if you think the native AI features being added to Premiere and Resolve are already enough to get the job done.

I'm really trying to find that sweet spot where I can automate the tedious parts—like rotoscoping, noise reduction, or audio leveling—without losing the creative control that my clients expect. It’s honestly getting a bit overwhelming trying to keep up with a new 'game-changing' plugin every other week!

For those of you doing this for a living, what does your current AI toolkit look like? Specifically, which tool has actually saved you the most hours on a real project this month?

HectorTok · Accepted Answer

unfortunately, Descript XML round-tripping is pretty much broken. id just use the neural engine in DaVinci Resolve Studio 19 and Topaz Video AI v5.3. they actually save real hours.

MidnightRitual · Answer

For your situation, I would suggest just sticking with the stuff you already pay for to save some money. I'm still figuring this AI stuff out too, but I found some cheap ways to speed things up! > My clients are frequently asking for quick-turnaround social media versions... and the manual labor of cutting out 'ums,' framing shots for vertical, and adding captions is starting to eat up my entire week. Basically, the 'Text-Based Editing' in Adobe Premiere Pro is actually awesome for the 'ums' and it’s free with your sub. For audio, I just started using Waves Clarity Vx—it was only like $30-40 and it works right in the timeline. Much cheaper than those big AI suites! Also, if you want fast captions for social, CapCut Desktop is free and super easy to use, though it’s a bit of a separate workflow. Hope that helps, gl! ✌️

glgifyzogh · Answer

just saw this thread and honestly... while sticking to native tools is safe, i think you might be missing out on some specific plugins that actually work inside premiere without breaking the round-trip workflow. im still pretty new to the AI side of things, but ive been cautious about using web tools for high-end stuff because of the compression. i get the idea of saving money by sticking to native stuff, but tbh, sometimes the time you lose fighting with built-in tools costs more than a good plugin.

Autocut AI Plugin for Premiere Pro: this thing is a lifesaver for the ums and silences. unlike descript, it stays inside premiere so you dont lose your metadata. just be careful because it can sometimes cut too close to the words if you dont tweak the padding settings.

Boris FX Mocha Pro 2024: if youre drowning in rotoscoping, this is way more reliable than standard tools. it uses PowerMesh which is basically magic for tracking organic shapes like skin or fabric. it is a bit of an investment though, so make sure your client budget covers it first. i would suggest avoiding those flashy web-based b-roll generators for now if you want to keep that high-end look. they usually look kinda plastic-y or weirdly distorted... just my two cents!