By Ihunmehai Isaac
The first time I heard the term “AI,” I was in the backseat of my roommate’s friend’s car in Lagos, Nigeria. He was into construction and obsessed with podcasts. I half-listened as he explained something about machines that learn from data. I nodded, not fully getting it. I was too busy figuring out how to charge my laptop during power outages and teaching myself to edit documentaries on borrowed equipment.
Fast-forward eight years: I’m working in New York, editing Emmy-nominated documentaries and collaborating with directors I once studied from afar. Somewhere along the way, quietly, AI crept into my editing room. And it didn’t just speed things up. It started reshaping how we tell stories.
This article isn’t about AI as a buzzword. It’s about what it’s actually doing behind the scenes for editors, solo creators, and an industry still catching up.
The Grind Before the Tech
Editing is rarely glamorous. Before AI tools became part of my process, getting to a rough cut meant sitting through dozens of hours of footage, manually transcribing interviews, matching audio to video by hand, and constantly juggling time, budget, and bandwidth.
I remember assisting on FreeStyled, my first major project in the U.S. We used Rev to transcribe interviews. Back then, that was a revelation—interviews transcribed in minutes instead of days. Soon after, Premiere and other editing platforms built in native transcription tools. I watched the shift happen in real time.
That was the beginning. Now, the transformation is impossible to ignore.
A Game-Changer in the Creator Economy
As I moved up in editorial rooms—from Coded Bias to TikTok Boom to Transitions—I began experimenting with how AI could serve the emotional beats of a story. Out of that came my approach: what I call Emotion-Led AI Storycrafting.
In Transitions: Edo Raised, New York Grown, a documentary I wrote, produced, and directed about my life’s story, I had to work around the lack of archival footage. I used AI to take on the heavy lifts: transcription, smart rough cuts, and even generating or upscaling visuals to fill gaps. That freed me to focus on the human side of the piece, the emotional pacing, rhythm, and resonance that carried the story.
This method isn’t about letting AI do the storytelling. It’s about clearing space for the creative decisions that only an editor can make. I’ve since shared this workflow through workshops at the Only Girl Foundation, a non-profit I founded to empower women of colour in the United States with digital skills like editing, filmmaking, storytelling, branding, and more.
Case Study: Transitions: Edo Raised, New York Grown
When I created Transitions: Edo Raised, New York Grown, I faced a challenge: there wasn’t much archival material to work with. Instead of letting that limit the story, I leaned into AI. Using tools like ChatGPT and Nanobana on Google’s Gemini, I generated missing elements, upscaled footage, and cleaned visual imperfections so the piece could flow with the polish it deserved, working closely with my colleague and editor, Toyosi Onayemi.
AI didn’t replace my storytelling—it amplified it. The time saved on technical fixes allowed me to focus on what mattered most: shaping an emotional arc that honoured both my Nigerian roots and my New York journey.
The film later screened in Vancouver, where audiences connected deeply with its themes of identity and belonging. For me, that was proof that AI can be more than a shortcut—it can be a bridge. A way to tell stories that might otherwise remain untold.
In the Creator Economy, AI Is a Secret Weapon
I’ve always admired creators who build full-fledged brands from their bedrooms. Today, AI has become their silent co-producer. As an alum and active member of the One Creator Lab—a program organized and sponsored by TikTok—I’ve seen firsthand how creators are leveraging these tools to scale their work without big budgets or teams.
Recently, I joined a conversation sponsored by Netflix on a topic dear to my heart, AI in entertainment, with Girish Balakrishnan and Sara Enright. Coming off the release of “Churchill at War,” Sara and Girish discussed the use of AI in that series in particular and how they envision the future of AI in entertainment. Sara recently was the Showrunner on Churchill and is currently at Story Syndicate. Girish heads up emerging technologies for Netflix and is instrumental in setting guardrails and pushing boundaries for creators and the platform.
At the studio level, AI is still a cautious guest in the room—but it’s here. Netflix used AI for VFX streamlining on The Eternaut. Flawless AI’s TrueSync tech is syncing lips in dubbed films to make global releases feel more authentic. Tools like DaVinci Resolve’s Neural Engine are now standard for editors and colorists.
What We Risk (and Why It Matters)
Let’s be real: AI isn’t just a tool. It’s also a disruptor
Jobs: Entry-level editing roles are at risk. If AI can handle temp syncs and rough cuts, where do assistants get their start?
Ethics: Many AI models are trained on massive datasets scraped from the internet often without consent. Who owns the outputs?
Deepfakes: I’ve been in rooms where face replacement would’ve saved days but I’ve also seen how easily this tech can be abused.
We need standards. We need ethics. And we need human editors who can tell the difference between what’s possible and what’s right.
How This Connects to the Bigger Picture
My work and the mission of Only Girl Foundation align with broader goals around digital equity, inclusive media, and ethical AI adoption. Through mentorship and training, we’re equipping women of color with the skills and tools to compete in the global creative economy.
That’s not just good for storytelling. It supports U.S. national interests in equitable tech innovation, workforce development, and civic participation through media.
“Promoting inclusive media through AI innovation.”
“Supporting digital equity for underserved voices.”
These aren’t slogans. They’re the lens I use for every project I touch.
Final Thoughts
AI isn’t replacing us. It’s pushing us. To be more intentional, more creative, more human.
For me, that means telling stories that matter, helping others tell theirs, and using every tool available—including AI—to do it better, faster, and more freely.
Because in the end, editing is still about connection. And the best stories? They don’t just inform. They move people.
Ihunmehai ‘Ihums’ Isaac is a Nigerian-born, U.S.-based documentary filmmaker and Emmy-nominated, Oscar-shortlisted editor whose credits include TikTok Boom, Union, The West and many more. Through her nonprofit, Only Girl Foundation, she empowers women of colour with digital storytelling skills and champions ethical, inclusive use of AI in film.
