For years, AI in film editing sounded like science fiction. Now it’s a menu option.
As an assistant editor, I’ve watched these tools arrive one update at a time. Some of them are genuinely helpful. Others make my colleagues nervous. So here’s a clear look at what’s actually changing in the edit bay, and what isn’t.
What AI Can Do Now
The biggest editing software companies have moved fast. In April 2025, Adobe added a feature to Premiere Pro called Generative Extend. It uses AI to create new frames, so an editor can lengthen a shot that ended too soon. Adobe also added AI-powered search that lets editors find footage by describing it.
That same spring, Blackmagic Design introduced DaVinci Resolve 20. One feature, IntelliScript, builds a rough-cut timeline by matching transcribed audio to the script. In addition, Resolve’s AI tools can match dialogue recorded in different rooms, reshape a voice, fit music to a scene, and even create a first mix.
In other words, tasks that once took hours can now take minutes.
The Work Most Likely to Change
So who feels it first? According to CineMontage, the Editors Guild’s journal, assistant editors may see the biggest shifts. Tasks like script syncing, building string-outs, and preparing sound turnovers are increasingly automated.
Dialogue editors, music editors, and loggers face similar changes. Meanwhile, picture editing itself remains largely human-driven, especially the art of interpreting notes and shaping performance.
[Optional quote from an assistant editor: how their day has changed.]
Why Editors Are Worried
Not surprisingly, many of us are uneasy. At a Local 700 town hall in 2024, Guild leadership shared a member survey showing that most members felt worried about AI.
The concern isn’t only about losing tasks. It’s about losing the path into the job. After all, many editors learned the craft as assistants, doing exactly the work AI now handles. If those entry-level tasks disappear, how does the next generation learn?
[Optional quote from an editor on training the next generation.]
What the Contract Says
The 2024 IATSE Basic Agreement added the first AI protections for our members. Members can’t be required to write prompts for a system that would replace another member. In addition, workers who lose jobs to AI are entitled to severance and retraining.
However, many members believe those protections don’t go far enough, especially around AI training on our work. As a result, AI is expected to be a major topic in the IATSE 2027 negotiations.
What AI Still Can’t Do
Still, here’s what I’ve learned from years in dark rooms: editing isn’t assembly. It’s judgment.
AI can find a take. It can’t tell you which take breaks your heart. It can build a rough cut. It can’t sense when a scene needs to breathe for two more seconds. [Leah: your own example of a choice only a human editor could make.]
Where We Go From Here
AI in film editing is not going away. So the question isn’t whether these tools exist. It’s who controls them, who benefits, and whether the people who make films keep a seat at the table.
If you work in post, I want to hear from you. How has AI changed your work so far? Share your story, and it may appear in a future edition of The Opinion.
With love,
Leah
Leah Gunter serves on the Board of Directors of the Motion Picture Editors Guild. The views in this article are her own and don’t represent the Guild or IATSE.
