AI tools by task
| Task | Tool | What the AI does |
|---|---|---|
| Transcript-based editing | Descript | Edit video by editing text; remove filler words; voice enhancement |
| Short clips from long videos | Opus Clip | Finds moments, reframes vertical, adds captions |
| Animated captions | Submagic | Styled word-by-word captions, emojis, zooms |
| Captions and templates | CapCut | Auto captions, templates, effects |
| Recording + AI clips | Riverside | Separate-track recording, text editing, clip suggestions |
| Pro editing with AI features | Premiere Pro | Text-based editing, AI audio features |
| Whole edit done for you | DoneEdit (ours) | AI first pass plus human check, delivered in 48h |
Descript: best for talking and podcasts
If your videos are mostly speech, Descript's transcript editing and filler-word removal save real time. You still make the creative choices.
Opus Clip: best for repurposing
Feed it a long video and get many vertical clip candidates. Review them: some will miss context.
Submagic: best for caption style
Focused on the captions that short-form audiences expect. Useful on top of any editor.
CapCut: best all-rounder for short-form
Free to start, with auto captions, effects and templates. Great on a phone.
Riverside: best if you record guests
Records each participant locally on separate tracks and adds AI clip and editing tools. Strong for interview podcasts.
Premiere Pro: AI inside a pro editor
If you already edit professionally, Premiere's text-based editing and AI audio features speed up a familiar workflow.
AI-assisted done-for-you services
If you don't want to operate any of these tools, some services use them for you and add a human review. DoneEdit, our own service, does this for talking-head videos with one English speaker. It's new, and limited to that format by design.
How to pick your AI stack
- Identify your slowest step. Cutting? Captions? Clips?
- Pick one tool for that step and use it for a month before adding another.
- Always review the output. AI makes confident mistakes, especially in captions with names.
- Stop if a tool adds work. Fixing bad AI output can take longer than doing it yourself.
What AI still can't do for you
AI doesn't know your audience, your goal or your brand. It can't decide that the middle third of your video should be cut, or that a joke lands better with a pause. Treat it as a fast assistant, not a replacement for judgement.
Step by step: building a simple AI workflow
- Record cleanly. AI tools work better with good audio and steady framing.
- Rough cut with AI. Use silence and filler-word removal to get a first pass.
- Review the cuts to make sure nothing important was removed.
- Auto-caption and correct the transcript.
- Add zooms and b-roll where they help; review AI suggestions rather than accepting them all.
- Make Shorts with an AI clipper, then pick the best ones yourself.
Checklist: before paying for an AI tool
- Does it solve the step that takes you the longest?
- Does the free plan let you test it on a real video?
- Can you correct its mistakes quickly?
- Are there export limits or watermarks?
- What happens to the footage you upload?
Common mistakes with AI editing tools
- Accepting every cut. Silence removal can cut breaths and pauses that give speech its rhythm.
- Using default caption styles. They look the same as everyone else's.
- Paying for several tools that overlap. Most creators need one editor plus, at most, one specialised AI tool.
- Skipping the final watch. AI mistakes are easy to miss until a viewer points them out.
When to use a service instead
If you find you spend as long fixing AI output as you would editing yourself, an AI-assisted service, where a person checks the result, may be a better fit than another tool.
Key takeaways
- Choose AI tools by the task that takes you longest.
- Most tools speed up steps rather than finishing a video for you.
- Review AI cuts, captions and b-roll before publishing.