If you are concerned that FCP does not have AI Assistants . . . Don't bother!

As an “old guy” in this business, I’d like to bring a slightly different perspective to this discussion about AI.

I have been editing video in one form or another since 1978. I started with two Sony 3/4” U-matic machines and a Sony edit controller that allowed me to set an in point for an upcoming edit, and that’s all. Somewhere around 1982 I started editing with a CMX editor, an Intergroup 9410 switcher, an Ampex ADO, and the Title Deko CG. I used this setup for several years until computers came on the scene. I got into computer editing somewhere around 1998 with Adobe Premiere and the Pinnacle Reel Time Nitro system - a very capable SD system for the time. I moved into the HD video world in 2010 with a Mid-2010 Mac Pro and Final Cut Pro 7. Today it’s FCP 12.3 on a little M4 Mac Mini.

I don’t use “AI” to help me edit, but it is not because I hate AI. I don’t use it because I genuinely enjoy editing! I enjoy sitting down at my suite and making the creative decisions needed to tell whatever story I’m going to tell in the video I am working on. I enjoy writing the script, selecting the clips, placing them in the story line, adding titles, effects, transitions, music, voice-over, etc. The way I look at it, if I relied on AI to do some of this work, it would take away some of the enjoyment I get from doing the editing myself.

Too many editors today only think about how fast they can get something done, and how fast they can pace their video. They use AI to remove all the natural pauses from conversation, with the resulting mess of jump cuts and machine-gun narrative delivery. That is where the term “AI slop” comes from, and it’s not enjoyable because the machine did all the work and the end result is very hard to watch.

That’s just not how I roll.

I produce my own show about dogs. There's lots of illustrations I am personally unable to do, b-roll I can't get on my own. So should I let the quality of my production suffer? Or should I use AI to give me the things it's great at doing, and up the quality of my show a bit? Should I NOT use it for rough edits so I can meet broadcast deadlines, only because AI is supposedly an evil sentient being?

There’s nothing wrong with how you sourced your B roll footage. I typically transform B rolls into animated footage.

I once had B roll footage where the sound was weak, so I mixed my own creation from samples from the library. That’s part of what makes creativity an art that A.I. cannot replace.

Smiliñ 😎 Brian | Community Volunteer

BenB wrote:

I produce my own show about dogs. There's lots of illustrations I am personally unable to do, b-roll I can't get on my own. So should I let the quality of my production suffer? Or should I use AI to give me the things it's great at doing, and up the quality of my show a bit? Should I NOT use it for rough edits so I can meet broadcast deadlines, only because AI is supposedly an evil sentient being?

AI is not sentient and honestly calling it "AI" is a bit of a misnomer anyway. It cannot be evil since it cannot understand the difference. My main concern other than diluting the quality of actual work people do is the rising prices. By in my OPINION, if you're using AI shots for B-Roll your production quality has already suffered by its insertion. I'm not sure what kind of videos you make, but I imagine that the shots won't match well, at least to those with a keen eye. To regular people it's likely quite passable.

Messing around with Gen AI for fun/self-amusement is one thing. I get that. I've done it before and I'll probably do it again. So even I am part of the overall problem.

I produce TV shows, and I can very easily get my AI generated images to match. That's the least of the worries. It's not AI, it's the people who use it. AI is a tool that does nothing without a user.

Again, when Apple purchased, reworked, and released the Color app in the legacy Final Cut Studio, for no extra charge, everyone freaked out. Pro level grading tools in the hands of amateurs! The color grading of feature films would suffer! Professional colorists would be put out of work! Well, none of that happened. The grading of amateur work got better. Professionals did not lose any jobs, in fact that market expanded. So yes, ground breaking new tools always freak out the masses.

Carry on. This is simply a political discussion at this point.

BenB wrote:

I produce TV shows, and I can very easily get my AI generated images to match. That's the least of the worries. It's not AI, it's the people who use it. AI is a tool that does nothing without a user.

Carry on. This is simply a political discussion at this point.

I wouldn’t call this a political discussion. It’s more of a philosophical discussion on how various FCP editors use AI.

Even though I don’t use AI to help me edit, I have used AI to generate still images. I don’t see that as a problem, and I’ve been pleased with the results. What I don’t do is use AI to make editing decisions for me. Why? Because that’s the part of this video production work that I enjoy! So I don’t hand off that work to an AI app of some kind. However, unlike BenB, I’m not usually working against a deadline, and that makes a huge difference in how you approach this issue.

I’m not against AI. I use it to enhance my work now and then, but I don’t use to do my editing work for me.

BenB wrote:

Again, when Apple purchased, reworked, and released the Color app in the legacy Final Cut Studio, for no extra charge, everyone freaked out. Pro level grading tools in the hands of amateurs! The color grading of feature films would suffer! Professional colorists would be put out of work! Well, none of that happened.

Everyone didn't freak out. It may have been "no extra charge" but the suite was still $4000, which is close to $6500 today. Amateurs weren't using it, they were using Windows Movie Maker, iMovie and if they were ambitious and wanted to pay for an app they used Vegas Video or Adobe Premiere, both for $700. I personally didn't use Color because it sucked. There may have been a good tool in there somewhere but it was hidden beneath the worst UI imaginable plus the need for round-tripping.

I agree with Old_Video_Guy that this is more of a philosophical conversation than a political one. Do you know where any of us stand politically based on this convo?

Ian R. Brown wrote:

I would like to know what it was going to produce . . .

Most likely more AI slop, just as it did the first time.

I've tried some AI agents that don't work at all. Some do. They're just cheap assistant editors...