Best AI Video Editing Software for Beginners and Pros (2025 Review)

Introduction: AI Revolutionizing Video Creation and Editing

Video content dominates the digital landscape, from social media feeds and marketing campaigns to educational materials and entertainment. However, creating professional-quality videos has traditionally been a time-consuming and technically demanding process. The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing this paradigm, making video editing more accessible, efficient, and innovative. AI-powered video editing software can automate tedious tasks like transcription and object removal, suggest creative edits, generate content from text, and even create realistic voiceovers. Whether you are a complete beginner looking to create your first video or a seasoned professional seeking to streamline your workflow, AI video editing tools offer a wealth of features to enhance your projects. As we look at the landscape in 2025, these tools have matured significantly, offering a diverse range of capabilities. This review will explore some of the best AI video editing software available for both beginners and pros, highlighting their key features, ease of use, pricing, and potential affiliate opportunities.

AI Video Editors for Beginners

For those new to video editing, AI can significantly lower the barrier to entry, simplifying complex processes and enabling the creation of engaging videos with minimal effort.

1. Descript – The All-in-One Audio and Video Editor

Descript has gained immense popularity for its intuitive, text-based approach to audio and video editing, making it feel as easy as editing a document.

• Key Features: Descript’s standout feature is its AI-powered transcription, which automatically transcribes audio and video with high accuracy. Users can then edit the video by simply editing the text transcript (deleting words or sentences in the text removes the corresponding video/audio segments). It offers AI-driven overdubbing to create realistic voice clones for correcting audio or adding narration, filler word removal (e.g., “um,” “uh”), and automatic multi-track screen recording and editing. It also includes features for podcasting and screen recording.
• Ease of Use and Target Audience: Extremely user-friendly, especially for content creators, podcasters, marketers, educators, and anyone who works with spoken-word audio or video and prefers a text-based workflow.
• Pricing: Descript typically offers a free plan with limited transcription hours. Paid plans start around $12-$15 per editor/month for more features and transcription hours, with higher tiers for teams and pro users. (Affiliate Opportunity: Descript has an affiliate program.)
• Pros: Revolutionary text-based editing, accurate AI transcription, powerful overdub and filler word removal features, all-in-one platform for audio and video.
• Cons: May not have all the advanced visual editing capabilities of traditional NLEs (Non-Linear Editors), overdub quality can vary, and can be resource-intensive for very long projects.

2. Pictory.ai – AI for Creating Videos from Scripts and Blog Posts

Pictory.ai specializes in transforming long-form text content, such as scripts, blog posts, and articles, into engaging short videos quickly.

• Key Features: Pictory uses AI to automatically select relevant stock video clips, images, and music based on your script. It offers features like “Script to Video,” “Article to Video,” and “Edit Videos Using Text.” It also provides AI-powered voiceovers in various accents and allows for easy branding with logos and custom fonts. It can automatically add captions to videos.
• Ease of Use and Target Audience: Designed for content marketers, bloggers, social media managers, and course creators who want to repurpose existing text content into videos without extensive editing skills.
• Pricing: Pictory usually offers several subscription plans, often starting around $19-$29 per user/month, with higher tiers offering more video creation capacity and features. (Affiliate Opportunity: Pictory.ai has an affiliate program.)
• Pros: Excellent for quickly converting text to video, vast library of stock media, automatic captioning, user-friendly interface, good selection of AI voices.
• Cons: Limited advanced video editing controls, the AI’s choice of visuals may sometimes require manual tweaking, and customization options might be less extensive than dedicated video editors.

AI Video Editors for Professionals

For professional video editors, AI features are increasingly being integrated into established software to enhance workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and unlock new creative possibilities.

1. Adobe Premiere Pro (with Adobe Sensei) – The Industry Standard, Enhanced by AI

Adobe Premiere Pro is a leading professional video editing software, and Adobe has been integrating its AI and machine learning technology, Adobe Sensei, to add powerful new features.

• Key AI Features:
  • Auto Reframe: Automatically reframes sequences for different aspect ratios (e.g., horizontal to vertical for social media) while keeping the main subject in the frame.
  • Scene Edit Detection: Automatically analyzes rendered videos and adds cuts and markers at scene changes, making it easier to re-edit existing footage.
  • Color Match: Uses AI to match colors between different clips for a consistent look.
  • Speech to Text: Powerful transcription capabilities for creating captions and subtitles quickly.
  • Content-Aware Fill (in After Effects, often used with Premiere Pro): Can remove unwanted objects from footage.
• Integration and Professional Workflow: Premiere Pro is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem, offering seamless integration with After Effects, Photoshop, Audition, etc. It’s designed for complex projects and professional workflows.
• Pricing: Available through Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions. The Premiere Pro single app plan is typically around $20.99/month, or it’s included in the All Apps plan. (Affiliate Opportunity: Adobe Creative Cloud has a robust affiliate program.)
• Pros: Industry-standard professional editing tools, powerful AI features that enhance existing workflows, excellent integration with other Adobe apps, highly versatile.
• Cons: Steep learning curve for beginners, subscription model can be costly over time, requires a powerful computer for smooth performance.

2. RunwayML – The Cutting-Edge AI Magic Tools Platform

RunwayML is a web-based platform focused on providing a suite of AI-powered “magic tools” for video and image creation and manipulation, often pushing the boundaries of creative AI.

• Key AI Features: Runway offers a wide array of AI tools, including Text to Video (Gen-1, Gen-2), Image to Video, Remove Background, Inpainting (removing objects from video), Motion Tracking, AI Training (custom AI models), Green Screen, and many more. It’s known for its experimental and advanced AI capabilities.
• Target Audience and Creative Possibilities: Aimed at artists, designers, filmmakers, and creatives looking to experiment with cutting-edge AI video tools. It opens up possibilities for visual effects and transformations that were previously very complex or impossible.
• Pricing: RunwayML typically offers a free tier with limited credits and features. Paid plans start from around $12-$15 per user/month, offering more credits, access to more advanced models, and higher resolution exports. (Affiliate Opportunity: RunwayML may have an affiliate or referral program; this would need to be verified.)
• Pros: Wide range of innovative and advanced AI video tools, web-based and accessible, active development with new features frequently added, fosters creative experimentation.
• Cons: Some tools can be resource-intensive or have a learning curve, output quality can vary depending on the tool and input, credit system on paid plans might be a constraint for heavy users.

Key AI Features to Look For in Video Editing Software

When evaluating AI video editing software, consider these common and valuable AI-driven features:

• AI-Powered Transcription: For quickly converting speech to text for captions or text-based editing.
• Text-to-Video Generation: Creating videos from scripts or articles.
• AI Voiceovers/Overdubbing: Generating realistic voiceovers or cloning voices.
• Object Detection and Removal: Automatically identifying and removing unwanted objects or backgrounds.
• Smart Reframe/Aspect Ratio Adjustment: Adapting videos for different social media platforms.
• Automated Scene Detection: Breaking down videos into individual scenes.
• AI-Assisted Color Correction and Grading: Simplifying color balancing and matching.
• Content-Aware Editing: Tools that understand the content of the video to make intelligent edit suggestions.
• Filler Word Removal: Automatically cutting out