I've got a feeling
Why AI can't replace a good editor (at least not yet!)
Do you spend too much time on LinkedIn like I do?
You’ve probably seen people posting about how AI can replace your CMO, your creative team is cooked, it’s time to fire your editors… you get the picture.
And to be honest, AI video editing tools have gotten really good. They can cut videos super fast, captions are instant, and cutting out dead space is no longer a tedious nightmare.
So, why the heck are the best brands still hiring humans to edit their videos??
Not to get too sappy, but it’s all about feeling.
The key to great content
AI can’t feel. It doesn’t know that long pause before the punchline adds to the comedy. It doesn’t know whether a message will comfort your audience, or piss them off.
Honestly, the AI tools don’t even understand what your video is about. They just know best practices. They cobble things together based on averages and probabilities.
That’s okay, if you’re okay with average. If you’re just starting out, or working for a small, scrappy B2B company, you might not be able to afford a great editor. If the choice is make an average video with AI, or don’t make one at all, you should use AI.
But if you want to stand out, make great content, and turn viewers into buyers, you still need to make people feel something. You need a human editor for that.
The power of a great editor
A great editor doesn’t just make cuts. They know what needs to be cut, and they know what needs to stay. They understand that making a story flow might mean going against best practices.
AI can make the editing process faster, but it needs a human to make the decisions. Think about the printing press: when it was invented, you could physically make a book 100 times faster. But the content was still what mattered most.
Bestselling books aren’t the ones that print fastest, they’re the ones that make the reader feel something. That’s the difference between a great story vs. words on a page.
Great video content requires human judgment, otherwise it’s just faces on a screen.
So yes, speed up your editors with AI. But don’t replace them with it.
I know I won’t.
- Ademola
p.s. What’s on your mind these days? What do you want to know about B2B video marketing?