Veo, NanoBanana, Sora, Suno, ChatGPT – today, generative AI is everywhere. People across every industry are using it to speed up workflows and boost their productivity. Including video creators. Â
The promise of AI tools is huge, but the pitfalls are just as deep. How can you harness AI without risking YouTube plagiarism or compromising content quality? It’s not just that YouTube penalizes AI slop, it’s also that poorly-generated content has terrible audience engagement.
We’re here to help you steer clear of the traps.
Here are five ways to leverage generative AI to elevate your video content.Â
Contents
Generate Ideas
First off, you can use AI to help you find ideas for your next videos.Â
One of the core elements of YouTube’s algorithm is that it rewards consistent content production. But between constantly filming raw footage, editing it, and prepping it for upload it’s sometimes difficult to drum up content inspiration.Â
AI can help. You can use generative AI to come up with a lists of topics and video titles, from more general to highly specialized ones. Go off of a vague notion of yours, or riff on a competitor’s latest hit. Find a few ideas that’ll work? Why not dip your toes into these topics with AI research tools.
Going further, you can use AIs for search engine optimization (SEO), from coming up with titles to chapter structure to drafts for the video description. SEO is a valuable approach for coming up with content ideas – check out our blog post here – and AI can speed up the process by pinpointing high-potential keywords and topic clusters. And by analyzing the competition’s efforts.
YouTube’s even got its own set of tools for this purpose now, called Inspiration – you can find it in Studio.
Structure Video Scripts
Once you’ve found a viral-worthy content idea, you can use AI to structure your video script.Â
Why not let it write it altogether?
While it’s certainly possible to have Copilot or ChatGPT do your entire script for you, this can be dangerous. Not only can your tone seem bland. LLMs constantly dip into sources without crediting them, veering into YouTube plagiarism, or make up sources. Frequently they’re also just plain wrong. All this takes time to check. And: Mistakes are difficult to spot if you’re new to a topic, but can be glaringly obvious to vocal members of your audience.
Starting with a solid structure, though, makes writing a script a much quicker process. Plus, you can have the AI go over it at the end to polish it up and fine-tune your hook.
Want to try out several variants of your script a trial run before the actual production? Then you could even use an AI clone tool to quickly create mockups of the footage you’ll shoot. The results won’t be production-grade, but they’ll help you gauge the impact of your script.
Speed Up Editing Workflows
Another way that video creators are harnessing AI is in video editing.Â
While purely AI-generated videos are typically bland, AI-based tools in video editing software such as Premiere Pro can be magical – and help you streamline your workflows.Â
Here are a few examples of tasks that used to be a real challenge, or that you needed extra tools for, that Premiere now does with a few clicks:Â
- Removing unwanted objects and background
- Auto color-correction and in-sync color grading of different clipsÂ
- Auto ducking to sync up background music and dialogue
- Enhancing speech and removing background noise
- Auto-generating captionsÂ
Create Images and Thumbnails
Once you’ve finished your video, you can also use AI to generate visual elements such as promotional images and YouTube thumbnails.Â
Thumbnails in particular are key to draw in viewers and boost your videos’ click-through rates (CTR).Â
You can turn to tools such as Jasper and Midjourney to instantly generate decent thumbnails. Or you can leverage AI features in graphic design tools like Canva to take your thumbnails to the next level. Just keep an eye on some of the persisting problems with giveaways like messed-up text.
Repurpose Content Across Platforms
Another prime way for video creators to use AI is to automatically repurpose their content across platforms.Â
Tools such as Premiere Pro and Vidyo.ai make it a breeze to turn a long-form YouTube video into short-form content for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or Instagram Reels. This means you can easily post teasers, previews, and highlights on different platforms and extend your reach.
Create AI Clones of Yourself
Finally, one more way that creators can use AI is by creating clones of themselves. Â With enough training data, you can now produce a customized avatar of yourself that you can then use to stand in for you in videos. Handy if you want to head out on vacation, or if you need some additional footage without out setting up all your equipment again.Â
So how do you get your personal AI avatar? Â First, you need to sign up for a platform like Elai or HeyGen. Then, you send it training footage – usually shot on a green screen – to train the algorithm to replicate you.
Overall, you can expect to pay between $150 and $200 per month to clone yourself using AI. Not cheap, but if you use the feature a lot it can pay off!Â
Quite a few creators are now using virtual clones of themselves to help scale content output. Meanwhile, you’re not limited to own appearance – there are now plenty of VTubers with sophisticated avatars!
Heads-Up: Disclose AI Content!
While AI holds huge potential for video creators, it’s crucial to disclose it if you make use of it!
YouTube has repeatedly tightened up transparency rules on the use of AI on the platform. There is now a new section in the video details where videos containing AI-generated content must be labeled accordingly.
This is especially important if you’re using AI to make a real person appear to say or do something they didn’t, even if it is purely for entertainment.
The same holds true if you alter footage of a real event or place and generates a realistic-looking scene that didn’t actually occur. The language in the rules in broad, and could cover any content that is fully or partially altered or created using audio, video, or image creation or editing tools. For more details, check the YouTube Help note here!Â
For instance, this creator fan-cast one of their favorite actors in a role they never played, but made it clear in the title that it’s only wishful thinking and AI magic.Â
The Bottom Line: AI for Video Creators
Yes, mass-produced AI-generated videos are a major annoyance for creators by crowding their niches. But AI tools are also a huge opportunity to save time and streamline workflows.Â
Used right, AI can help you come up with viral content ideas, structure captivating video scripts, elevate your editing, generate clickable thumbnails, and extend your reach across platforms.
The necessary ingredient? A human touch.
FAQs
Video creators are harnessing AI to find content ideas, structure video scripts, enhance their video edits, create images and thumbnails, and repurpose content across platforms. You can also generate videos wholesale.
AI offers a powerful tool for creators to become more productive and streamline their workflows. However, creators also have to grapple with AI slop flooding their niches and making them more crowded.
No. While it’s possible to generate videos using only AI, these cannot establish the same emotional connection with an audience that has made stars of major creators like MrBeast.Â
AI clones are virtual versions of creators. The AI assimilates footage of creators and replicates their appearance and voice to generate new content with their avatar.
AI influencers are virtual clones of influencers. The AI assimilates footage of creators and replicates their appearance and voice to generate new content with their avatar.
