Guide
An AI video editor edits the video you filmed; a generator makes new video from a prompt
Updated
An AI video editor starts from a video you filmed and cuts it, captions it and adds clips and music. An AI video generator starts from a prompt, a script or a photo and makes video that was never filmed.
In short
- An AI video editor works on a video you filmed. Your face and voice stay, and the AI does the cutting, the captions, the clips and the music.
- An AI video generator makes new video from words or a picture, like a scene from Google's Veo or an AI presenter from Synthesia or HeyGen.
- Choose an editor if you, your product or your customers should be on screen. Choose a generator if nobody can film, or the shot can't be filmed.
- Cutroom has both, as separate tools. The Magic Editor edits one clip of you talking, and Cutroom's Avatars tool makes AI presenters on the Basic plan.
What is the difference between an AI video editor and an AI video generator?
The difference is what you put in. An editor needs a video you filmed, and a generator needs only words or a picture.
An AI video editor and an AI video generator side by side
Examples as each company describes its own product, November 2026.
What you give it
- AI video editor
- A video you filmed
- AI video generator
- A prompt, a script or a photo
What comes out
- AI video editor
- Your video, cut and finished
- AI video generator
- New footage or an AI presenter
Who is on screen
- AI video editor
- You, with your own voice
- AI video generator
- Generated people or an AI avatar
Best for
- AI video editor
- Tips, reviews, demos, stories
- AI video generator
- Shots nobody can film
Examples
- AI video editor
- Descript, Cutroom's Magic Editor
- AI video generator
- Google Veo, Synthesia, HeyGen
| AI video editor | AI video generator | |
|---|---|---|
| What you give it | A video you filmed | A prompt, a script or a photo |
| What comes out | Your video, cut and finished | New footage or an AI presenter |
| Who is on screen | You, with your own voice | Generated people or an AI avatar |
| Best for | Tips, reviews, demos, stories | Shots nobody can film |
| Examples | Descript, Cutroom's Magic Editor | Google Veo, Synthesia, HeyGen |
What an AI video editor does to your own clip
An AI video editor keeps your face and your voice, and does the work an editor would do by hand. It listens to what you say and edits on your words.
In Cutroom's Magic Editor, you upload the clip and press "Make my video". Jacob, its AI editor, makes the whole edit, and you change it by asking in a chat.
- It cuts the ums, the false starts, the repeats and the long pauses.
- It adds captions that follow your voice word by word.
- It finds b-roll clips and puts them on the words they belong to.
- It adds music and sound effects, and levels the sound so it plays at a steady volume.
A bakery owner's clip, before and after the AI editor
The owner stays on screen with her own voice. The Poster style adds the words, the number and the look.
Drawing of an example clip, not a customer video
Before · the clip as filmed
A 30-second phone video of a bakery owner talking behind the counter
“Um, okay, so here's why my bakery opens at 6. The first bus the first bus gets in at ten past, … (pause) and those people want bread before work.”
struck through = what Jacob cuts
After · Jacob's first edit, Poster style
“Here's why my bakery opens at 6. The first bus gets in at ten past, and those people want bread before work.”
- On “6”: the number 6 in neon, big on screen
- On “bread”: the words stacked big in three fonts
- On “bus”: the picture turns black and white for a moment
- On “work”: your logo on black closes the video
- Under the whole video: music and sound effects under your voice
Then you ask Jacob
- “Make the colours warmer”v2the same edit in warmer colours
- “Keep my pauses, it feels too rushed”v3a slower version with your pauses kept
How Cutroom's Magic Editor edits a video like this
Jacob is the AI editor inside Cutroom's Magic Editor: it edits your video for you, then changes it when you ask in a chat.
The 4 styles, as example edits
Steps
Three steps, four angles
Skit
Hook, hard stop, demo card
Verdict
The tester's verdict
Poster
Typography does the talking
Hover or tap an example to play it, without sound. These are example edits of each style; the presenters in them are generated with AI.
- Your take: one video of you talking, up to 3 minutes
- Your style: one of 4: Steps, Skit, Verdict or Poster
- Your files: screenshots, a screen recording or a logo, if you have them
- Your goal: what the video is for, in a few words, if you like
- Jacob makes it: normally 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email
- Your edit: ask Jacob for changes in a chat, then export
Then you ask Jacob, for example
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”
- “Put a clip on the strongest sentence”
- “Change the music to something calmer”
Each change is a new version, and going back is free. First cut 250 credits, each change 40, questions free, export 30 credits per started minute.
What an AI video generator makes instead
An AI video generator makes video that was never filmed. You type a prompt or a script, and it makes the footage or a presenter who reads your words.
That helps when nobody can be on camera, or the shot can't be filmed at all. Here is what three well-known generators say they do, as of November 2026.
- Google's Veo 3.1 makes video from a text prompt or an image, and generates the sound along with it.
- Synthesia makes presenter videos from a script, with hundreds of AI avatars and more than 140 languages, and no camera.
- HeyGen makes complete videos from a script with its Text to Video tool, with no camera or editing software needed.
- A generator has never seen your shop, product or face, so they only appear if you upload photos or footage of them.
Which one to use for your video
Choose by who should be on screen and what you already have.
Which one to use
Choose An AI video editor if you, your product or your customers should be on screen, and you can film a clip on your phone.
Choose An AI video generator if nobody can be on camera, or you need a shot that can't be filmed, like a scene that only exists in your head.
Choose Cutroom's Magic Editor if you have a clip of you talking, up to 3 minutes, and want the finished vertical video made for you. Your first video is free.
Where Cutroom fits
Cutroom has both kinds of tool, kept separate. The Magic Editor edits a clip you filmed, and the Avatars tool makes videos with an AI presenter.
- The Magic Editor takes one clip of you talking, up to 3 minutes long, as MP4, MOV or WebM.
- Jacob makes the whole edit from one press, in one of 4 styles: Steps, Skit, Verdict or Poster. It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready.
- The Magic Editor never generates footage. Jacob looks for b-roll in your own clip library first, then on the stock sites Pexels and Pixabay, and puts each clip on the words it belongs to.
- The Magic Editor exports a vertical MP4, 1080 by 1920, 30 frames a second, with the sound levelled.
- AI presenters are made with the Avatars tool, on the Basic plan at $39.99 a month, at 350 credits per minute of presenter video.
Questions people ask
- Is an AI video editor the same as an AI video generator?
- No. An AI video editor works on a video you filmed and keeps your face and voice. An AI video generator makes new video from a prompt, a script or a photo, so nothing in it was filmed.
- Do I need to film anything for an AI video generator?
- No. You type a prompt or a script, and the generator makes the footage or an AI presenter. Synthesia and HeyGen both say you need no camera.
- Should I use an AI editor or an AI generator for ads?
- Use an editor if the ad depends on you, your shop or your product being real. Use a generator if nobody can film and an AI presenter or a generated scene is acceptable for your brand.
- Does Cutroom edit videos or generate them?
- Both, as separate tools. The Magic Editor edits one clip of you talking into a finished vertical video. AI presenters come from the Avatars tool on the Basic plan, $39.99 a month.
- Can the Magic Editor add AI-generated b-roll?
- No. Jacob looks for b-roll in your own clip library first, then on the stock sites Pexels and Pixabay, and puts each clip on the words it belongs to. Your own screenshots, recordings and product photos land on the words where you talk about them.
- How long does the Magic Editor take?
- It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready. You can close the page while Jacob works. Your video keeps going.
Already have a clip of you talking? Let Jacob make the whole edit. Your first video is free.