How to Let AI Trim the Less Important Parts for You

Introduction

Ever thought, “This part could go…” while editing your video? With Cutback’s AI Assistant, you can automatically detect and remove less important segments—no need to scrub through the timeline manually. It’s a faster, easier way to shorten your video and keep only what matters most.

🔽 In this guide:

✅ How to use AI to trim the video

✅ Features that make rough cutting easier

✅ Frequently asked questions and answers

Getting Started - How To Trim a Video with AI

Step 1. Open a new Premiere Pro project and load your audio and video files into a sequence.

Step 2. Go to [Window] > [Extensions] > [Cutback] from the top menu to launch Cutback.

Step 3. Select the [Auto Rough Cut] option.

Step 4. Configure the following recognition settings:

1. Range Selection:

   • All: Generate subtitles for all tracks in the sequence.

   • In/Out: Use the in/out points set in Premiere Pro.

   • Clip: Generate subtitles only for selected clips.

2. Language Selection: Choose the language of the video (one language per session).

3. Preview On/Off: Enable preview to see a draft before applying changes.

   • Note: Preview requires encoding. For faster performance, turn it off.

4. Number of Speakers:

   • If each speaker has a separate mic/audio track, assign names per track.

   • If all speech is on a single track, input the number of speakers. AI will identify them by voice.

5. Video Tracks: Assign video tracks per speaker if needed.

Step 5. Click [Transcribe video for auto rough cut] to begin.

How To Shorten a Video and Quickly Remove Unnecessary Parts with AI

Step 1. Click the Assistant button at the top right to access the video shortener.

Step 2. In the chat window, either select [Shorten video] or type the command manually to trim the video, and the video shortening tool will get started.

Step 3. Cutback’s AI Assistant will identify parts of the video that are relatively less important. The video editor will splice video clips and display them as grayed-out parts in the transcription. You can review the suggested segments and undo any cuts by clicking the scissors icon. Once you're ready, click [Confirm] to generate a draft with the selected sections removed.

Step 5. Review the draft and click [Save] to apply changes to the original video and your video timeline. You can then continue refining the edit using text-based editing or caption editing to create your social media content.

• Note: If you click [Discard], the video will revert to its original unedited state.

Step 6. Click [Apply to sequence] to finalize the changes in your Premiere Pro sequence.

• Create new sequence: Saves the changes in a new sequence while keeping the original untouched.

• Apply to current sequence: Updates the existing sequence with the changes.

Note

• Segments marked for deletion by AI will appear in gray. These edits will not be applied until you click [Apply to sequence].

• Any changes not applied to the sequence will not be saved. Make sure to click [Apply to sequence] to preserve your edits.

Explore More Cutback Video Editing Software Features To Utilize

1. Top Menu Features:

   • Undo/Redo: Use buttons or keyboard shortcuts u (undo) and r (redo).

   • Time Machine: Revert to the state before you applied changes.

   • Find/Replace: Search and replace words in subtitles (f key).

   • Export Subtitles: Export to .txt or .srt, or copy chapters + timestamps for YouTube.

2. Keyboard Shortcuts:

   • Move between words: w a s d

   • Cut at word: k

   • Cut at sentence: l

   • Faster preview: > (Shift + .)

   • Slower preview: < (Shift + ,)

   • View all shortcuts via the keyboard icon (top-right of Cutback window)

3. Smart Summary Tips:

   • Click a summary to jump to that chapter.

   • Edit chapters directly with the Assistant via chapter titles.

These video editing tools will significantly reduce the time you spend making social media content of all types. Be it TikTok, Instagram Stories, Facebook stories, or YouTube shorts, these video editing features will give you projects of top video quality in no time. After fine-tuning your rough cut, export the content to your desired video file formats (e.g. MP4, WEBM, MOV, MKV, etc.) and enjoy the results of your collaborative hard work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many times can I use Auto Rough Cut per month?

A: Currently in open beta, Auto Rough Cut has no usage limit. This may change after the official release.

Q: Can I load previously created subtitles?

A: Yes. If you've already generated subtitles in a sequence, you can reload them using [Import] in the Subtitle Generation & Edit menu or open them via [Check Subtitle File] > [Open Previous Work].

⚠️ Caution: Clicking [Generate New Subtitle] will overwrite previous subtitle files.

Q: I clicked [Apply to Sequence] and received a message saying the subtitle track prevents cuts.

A: Delete all subtitle tracks (i.e., 'Captions' in Premiere). Check inside nested sequences for hidden subtitle tracks.

Q: I don’t like the edit the Assistant created.

A: Feel free to try another prompt, give clearer instructions, or revert using Time Machine.

Q: Line breaks don’t work when I try to edit subtitles.

A: Use Subtitle Edit Mode to change subtitles. Cut Edit Mode only supports cuts, not line breaks.