Instagram’s Edits app gets an AI assistant that reads your Reels data

Instagram is putting a chatbot inside Edits, its video editing app for creators. The tool reads a creator’s Instagram data and suggests what to make next. It is rolling out to all Edits users in the US, Brett Westervelt, who leads the app, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

“One thing we heard consistently: creators want a tool that handles the analysis, not one that does the creative work for them,” Westervelt wrote. “Edits assistant does the digging for you. The creative calls are still yours.”

What it can see

The Edits assistant uses an account’s Instagram metrics, such as follows, views, video retention, likes and shares. It combines them with comments, trends on Instagram and the audience’s interests. Creators can ask what connected with their audience this month, or why one reel held attention and another did not.

It suggests video concepts, hooks, captions and scripts based on a creator’s own track record. It can also compare how variations of trial reels perform and recommend trending audio that fits a creator’s niche. Creators can save the audio straight from the chat.

Instagram tested early versions with a council of creators. One of them, @jaleesajaikaran, said the assistant suggested mixing a 7-second reel in with her one-minute videos, according to the post.

“It’s like a cheat code for creators,” said @turnipvegan, another creator who tested the tool.

Free, with a limit

The assistant is free with a daily prompt limit. Power users will soon be able to get more usage with a Meta One subscription, Instagram said. The most expensive Meta One plan costs $499 a month, Matt Tate reported for Engadget.

Meta first previewed the assistant in June at an invite-only creator event, Amanda Silberling reported for TechCrunch. It also said then that it was working on an Edits desktop app.

YouTube’s version

Meta launched Edits last year as a rival to CapCut, the editing app from TikToka rival to CapCut, the editing app owned by TikTok’s parent company#8217;s owner ByteDance. Last week, YouTube said it was building a conversational video editing tool, due early next year, according to TechCrunch. YouTube is also adding AI creator tools to its platform. Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, said this month that engagement falls by half without the algorithm.