Last month, I had observed a marketing manager produce a product demo video within 45 seconds. She entered a prompt in an AI tool, clicked generate, and voilah a video with a presentable look was generated.
Why should anybody be learning video editing at this point? She asked me.
Fair question. I have personally tried over the past six months some major AI video generators. I have produced more than 200 videos, some of them pure AI, some with editing, some traditional. The results surprised me.
This is what no one will tell you, AI creates videos. But it doesn’t finish them.
What AI Does (The Honest Truth)
AI video tools are impressive. Ask Runway or Pika to make a 30-second coffee shop advertisement in the morning, and you will be provided with something watchable.
But here’s what happens next:
- The video is 1920×1080, but you need it for TikTok (1080×1920)
- The file size is 187MB and Instagram does not accept files greater than 100MB.
- The AI added a 3-second fade that kills your hook
- It generated a 40-second video, although LinkedIn has a limit on 30 seconds.
- The ending just… stops. No call-to-action, no smooth finish
AI gives you 80% of a video. That last 20%? Someone needs to handle it.
It is not a question of whether you need editing skills or not. It’s which ones you really need at this point in time.
The Skills That Are No Longer Relevant
Let me save you some time. Stop learning these:
Complex motion graphics – It is something AI can do better than any amateur ever can. The flying text effects that you took weeks to learn in After Effects? They are created by Runway within some seconds.
Manual color grading – AI auto-correct is interestingly good at present. You do not actually require knowing what LUTs are unless you are shooting cinema.
Stock footage hunting – Why search through 10,000 clips when AI generates exactly what you need?
Advanced keyframing – The frame-by-frame animation that is so annoying? AI does it faster.
The Skills That Matter Now More Than Ever
Here’s where things get interesting.
Platform optimization became super important. Every platform has different requirements:
- YouTube Shorts: 1080×1920, under 60 seconds
- Instagram Reels: 1080×1920, under 90 seconds, max 100MB
- LinkedIn: 1080×1080 or 1920×1080, under 10 minutes
- TikTok: 1080×1920, 3 seconds to 10 minutes
AI does not give a thought to these specs. It produces what it produces. You must restructure, resize and reformat.
Everything is predetermined by the first 3 seconds. Artificial intelligence tends to create a gradual accumulation. However, your artistic vision does not matter to social media algorithms. Hook the viewers at once or lose them. That includes refining, slicing and reformatting AI output.
The issue of file size control is bigger than it may seem. The idea of a beautiful 4K video is useless when it takes 30 seconds to load on the mobile. It can now be considered a fundamental skill to be able to compress without loss of quality.
Being aware of what should be retained and what should be eliminated is the new editing superpower. AI generates content. Humans curate it. The 60-second AI video could have 8 seconds of gold in the middle of it. Can you find it?
The Real Things You Should Learn in 2025
Level 1: Platform Essentials (Everyone Needs This)
- Aspect ratio conversion (vertical, horizontal, square)
- Compression of files (make videos platform-friendly)
- Basic trimming (cut intros, outros, dead space)
- Format conversion (MP4, MOV, WebM)
These are not professional editing skills. These are rudimentary content requirements. Such as the ability to know how to add file to an email.
How to learn: You do not require costly programs. This is now done by browser-based tools. For example, with Clideo video maker you can compress, resize and convert videos without installing anything. Upload, adjust, download. Done in minutes.
Level 2: Optimization of Content(Creators Need This)
- Merging multiple clips
- Adding text overlays and captions
- Audio adjustment (volume leveling, background noise)
- Adjustment of speed (slow-mo, time-lapse)
Level 3: AI Prompt Mastery (Power Users)
- Writing effective generation prompts
- Understanding AI limitations
- Understanding when to regenerate or even edit.
- Combining AI tools for best result
- Integrating AI to achieve maximum performance.
This is the new “editing skill.” You’re not pushing sliders. You are training AI correctly.
Level 4: Professional Editing (Only If You Need It)
- Advanced color grading
- Complex multi-layer compositing
- Professional audio mixing
- Custom effects and transitions
Agencies need this. Most people don’t.
Who Needs What Level of Skills
Small business owners/entrepreneurs: Level 1 suffices. You must update material periodically. Rapid corrections, correct formats, satisfactory quality. That’s it. According to a 2024 Wyzowl study, 91% of businesses use video marketing, but they’re not winning Oscars. They’re getting their message out.
Content creators / influencers: You need volume and speed. One perfect video is outdone by five optimized videos. Quickly learn to trim, merge and resize.
Freelancers / agencies: All four levels. Clients expect professional polish. AI gets you started faster, but you finish with expertise.
Marketing teams: Levels 1-3. You are producing content at a large scale. AI writing + intelligent editing + optimization of platform = your workflow.
Only beginning: Start with Level 1. Seriously. Familiarize yourself with simple edits. You can always level up later.
The Truth About “AI Will Replace Video Editors”
Is AI going to substitute professional video editors? Eventually, maybe.
Will AI help remove the necessity of basic editing knowledge? Absolutely not. It increased that need.
Consider this: It has never been recorded that there are more people making videos than at present. Video content is pumped by every business, creator, and freelancer.
Yes, AI made video creation accessible, but did not make editing disappear. It merely altered the meaning of editing.
Prior to AI: The only individuals who could create videos were people who had the ability to edit.
With AI: Anyone can make videos, however, the vast majority require a simple editing to get them operating.
The barrier to entry dropped. Optimization was more required.
The Mobile Reality
Where do you actually edit? – it is what most articles lack.
The majority of creators are working on phones at the moment. You shoot mobile, you post on mobile, you watch on mobile. That changes everything.
The use of desktop editing software becomes less and less relevant to every-day content. What is important is fast and easy-to-use tools capable of dealing with the necessary edits without being complicated.
Is it possible to edit a video on your phone within 30 seconds? Are you able to compress it and upload it? Would you be able to make it the right aspect ratio? That’s the bar now. Turns out there are tons of mobile apps that make this possible e.g the Clideo mobile app.
What I Misunderstood About AI Video
A half a year ago, I believed that AI will render video editing irrelevant. I was half right.
It made complex editing less necessary. But it rendered simple editing to be a necessity in all.
The inability to make decisions was eliminated. Premiere Pro, Final Cut or DaVinci Resolve were the only programs you had to master before you could begin. Most people had their dream of video killed before they started by that 40-hour learning curve.
Now? Write AI-generated posts and edit them accordingly.
Democratization of video does not mean that AI will replace editors. It is that AI has made it fast enough to create that the real art is basic editing.
The Bottom Line
Do you need video editing skills in the age of AI?
Yes – but not the ones you think.
You do not have to be a professional editor. You do not have to spend a lot of money on software. Months of training are unnecessary. But you need to learn what platforms need, how to get AI output to work best, and the 5-6 elemental edits that are the difference between content that works and content that runs.
It is not editing in any real sense. It’s content optimization. It has become the new standard of anybody who produces video material.
AI creates videos. Humans make them worth watching.
The issue is not whether one should learn how to edit. It is a question of whether you want your AI-generated videos to actually work.
Because right now, 80 percent of individuals are currently uploading AI videos directly out of the generator. And the majority of them ask themselves why their content is not viewed.
The other 20%? They take 5 minutes on simple optimization. And they are getting 3x better results.
What team would you prefer to belong to?
Quick Action Steps:
- Create a video with any AI generator
- Compare its file size, aspect ratio, and length with your target platform
- Make the 3 necessary changes: trim, resize, compress
- Post both versions and compare results
Your engagement rate will tell you everything you need to know about whether editing skills are still important or not.
