Meta on Wednesday showcased forthcoming enhancements to its video-editing application Edits during an invite-only creator gathering in L.A., highlighting capabilities such as a new AI assistant and a desktop edition of the app, which had previously been available only on mobile devices.
The company also revealed that several additional tools are rolling out in the app today, including a “Beta” tab for testing new features and expanded audience analytics.
Edits debuted last year as a direct rival to ByteDance’s CapCut. Through the introduction of these new and upcoming capabilities, Meta is seeking to both keep existing users and bring in new ones.
The forthcoming AI assistant will assist creators in evaluating their insights and generating ideas for their content. Using Instagram data, including view counts and video-retention metrics, the assistant will help creators understand what is performing well and the reasons behind that performance. It will recommend video concepts based on previous results and encourage the creation of content featuring trending audio.
By embedding an AI assistant directly within Edits, Meta is working to keep creators active on Instagram as it continues competing with TikTok and YouTube for creator engagement. In addition, by supplying content suggestions, Meta is promoting more consistent posting activity, which may ultimately increase user engagement. Having direct access to an AI assistant also eliminates the need for creators to rely on external tools like ChatGPT when developing content ideas and evaluating performance.
Meta introduced a comparable AI assistant feature for creators on Facebook last week. It is also notable that both YouTube and TikTok provide creators with tools designed to help generate ideas. For example, YouTube Studio includes an Inspiration tab powered by AI to assist with video concept generation, while TikTok provides creators with an AI assistant capable of brainstorming ideas and identifying trends.
The desktop edition of Edits will offer creators greater precision throughout the editing process, along with the advantage of working on a larger display, which can be useful for more sophisticated editing workflows. The company states that creators will be able to synchronize their workflows smoothly across mobile and desktop platforms.
The upcoming desktop release will also strengthen Edits’ position against CapCut, which already provides a desktop version.
Among the features launching today is a Beta tab that will grant creators early access to experimental tools still under development while enabling them to share feedback with Meta. The introduction of the Beta tab suggests Meta is aiming to compete more effectively with CapCut and speed up feature development based on creator demand and usage preferences.
Creators will now also gain access to more comprehensive metrics, including demographic audience breakdowns and information about the times of day when their audiences are most active. These new insights are being added to the app’s existing analytics suite, which already includes metrics such as viewer watch duration, follower growth generated from a particular video, audience drop-off points within a video, and more.
Additionally, creators can now search for specific topics within the app’s Inspiration feed to find reels and templates being created around a particular trend or concept. They will also have the option to develop multiple versions of the same content piece to determine which performs best before publishing.
Although Instagram did not disclose exact figures regarding Edits’ user base, the company reports that content produced using the app achieves a 10% higher save rate and a 2% higher reshare rate compared with content not created in Edits. Meta also states that more than half of users watching reels on Instagram encounter Edits-created content every day.
Edits is available as a free download on iOS and Android.
The AI assistant announced today is currently being tested by attendees of Thursday’s creator event, while the desktop edition of Edits is “coming soon,” according to Meta. All other announced features are being released to users today.
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