30-second answer: AI effects in Edits work best when they serve a clear purpose — a cleaner background, a stronger subject, or a consistent look — and are applied lightly, to one or two moments, rather than across a whole video. Choose an effect that fits your footage, preview it at full speed, and check faces, hands, edges, and motion frame by frame before export. If an effect creates artefacts, flicker, or a look that distracts from the story, reduce its strength or remove it.
On this page
- Choose an effect with a purpose
- Apply the effect to the right clip
- Control strength and duration
- Check faces, hands, and edges
- Combine AI effects with ordinary edits
- Check the effect before export
- Using this in a desktop workflow
AI effects are easy to overuse precisely because they are easy to apply. A single tap can transform a clip, and that instant transformation is tempting to repeat on every clip, until a video feels processed rather than edited. The strongest use of AI effects is the opposite: one thoughtful effect, in the right place, that solves a real problem or creates a deliberate look, while the rest of the video stays clean and natural.
Edits runs on your phone, so AI effects are applied to clips in the app, and available effects change between versions. This tutorial therefore covers the decisions that stay constant — purpose, strength, checking, and restraint — rather than promising a specific effect name. For background removal specifically, see our green screen tutorial; for ordinary visual effects, see the later effects tutorial in this series.
Step 1: Choose an effect with a purpose
Before applying any AI effect, state its purpose in one sentence. Examples of clear purposes are: “make the subject stand out from a busy background,” “give this section a consistent, stylised look,” or “clean up a distracting element without reshooting.” If you cannot state a purpose, you probably do not need the effect, and adding it will make the video feel decorated rather than directed.
Also consider whether an ordinary edit would do the job better. A tighter crop, a better cut, or a simpler colour adjustment often solves a problem more reliably than an AI effect, and it does so without the risk of artefacts. AI effects are powerful tools, but they are not substitutes for good footage or good cutting. Use them where they add something ordinary editing cannot — a transformation, a cleanup, or a consistent stylisation — and use ordinary editing everywhere else.
Step 2: Apply the effect to the right clip
Apply an AI effect to a single clip or a short section first, and preview the result before applying it more widely. AI effects behave differently on different footage: an effect that looks clean on a still, well-lit subject can flicker on a moving subject, fail on fast motion, or produce odd results on hands, hair, or detailed patterns. Testing on one representative clip tells you more than applying the effect to a whole project and hoping for the best.
When you do apply an effect, apply it to the clip as it will appear in the final video — after trimming, not before. An effect applied to a long, untrimmed clip, then trimmed, can behave differently at the new cut points, and an effect that spans a cut can create a visible jump. Trim first, using our trim and split clips tutorial, then apply the effect to the final clip length, and check the joins on either side.
Step 3: Control strength and duration
Most AI effects have a strength or intensity control, and the default is often stronger than you need. Start at a lower strength and increase it only until the effect achieves its purpose, then stop. A subtle effect that viewers notice as “that looks good” is more successful than a strong effect that viewers notice as “that is an AI effect.” Subtlety is especially important for effects on people, where a strong effect quickly looks unnatural.
Also control duration. An AI effect does not need to run for a whole clip to be effective; sometimes a few seconds at a key moment — a reveal, a transition into a section, a highlight — is enough, and the rest of the clip can stay natural. Limiting duration also limits risk: the shorter the effect runs, the fewer frames there are for artefacts to appear, and the easier it is to check every affected frame before export.
Step 4: Check faces, hands, and edges
AI effects most often fail on the details viewers look at most: faces, hands, and edges. Watch the affected clip slowly, and look for warped features, extra or missing fingers, flickering hair or clothing edges, and backgrounds that wobble or bleed into the subject. These artefacts are easy to miss at full speed, especially on a small phone screen, but they are exactly what viewers will notice and comment on after posting.
Check the effect across the whole clip, not just its first second. Some artefacts appear only when the subject moves, turns, or passes in front of a complex background, and an effect that looks perfect on a still frame can fail mid-clip. If you find artefacts, try reducing the strength, shortening the effect’s duration, or choosing a simpler effect. If artefacts persist, remove the effect: a clean, unprocessed clip is always better than a processed clip with visible errors.
Step 5: Combine AI effects with ordinary edits
AI effects work best as one layer in an edit, not as the edit itself. Combine a subtle AI effect with the ordinary techniques in this series: clean cuts, readable titles from our text and titles tutorial, balanced audio from our music and audio tutorial, and a consistent overall look. A video that relies on one AI effect for its entire appeal will feel thin; a video that uses an AI effect to enhance an already solid edit will feel polished.
Avoid stacking multiple AI effects on the same clip unless you have a clear reason and have checked the combination carefully. Each effect adds its own risk of artefacts, and stacked effects compound that risk, while also making the clip look increasingly processed. If two effects both seem necessary, test them together on a short section first, and be prepared to drop one. Restraint in combination is as important as restraint in strength.
Step 6: Check the effect before export
Before exporting, watch the full video with fresh eyes and note every AI effect that draws attention to itself. An effect that felt exciting when first applied can feel distracting on a second viewing, and that second viewing is closer to how a first-time viewer will experience it. Check the affected clips on a phone screen, where most viewers will watch, and with the sound on, since an effect that looks odd can be made worse by mismatched audio.
Then export using our export settings tutorial and check the exported file, because export compression can change how AI effects look — softening fine detail, exaggerating flicker, or introducing new artefacts. If an effect looks worse after export, reduce its strength, shorten it, or remove it, and re-export. An effect that only works in the app preview is not finished.
Common AI effect mistakes
The most common mistake is using AI effects everywhere, so a video feels processed from start to finish and no single effect stands out. The second is trusting the preview: an effect that looks good in a small preview can fail on closer inspection, and creators who skip frame-by-frame checking post artefacts they never saw. The third is using a strong effect on people, where unnatural faces or hands are immediately obvious and hard to ignore.
Another mistake is using an AI effect to rescue poor footage — a badly lit, shaky, or out-of-focus clip — instead of reshooting or cutting around it. AI effects can enhance good footage, but they rarely fix fundamentally weak footage, and they often draw attention to its weaknesses. Finally, do not use AI effects that mislead viewers about what is real, especially for people, places, or events, without being clear about what you have changed. Effects should enhance a video, not deceive its audience.
Using this in a desktop workflow
AI effects benefit from desktop review, because artefacts that are hard to see on a phone screen become visible on a larger display. After applying an effect in Edits, export a draft and review it on your computer, pausing on faces, hands, and edges, and noting any frame that looks wrong. That review is the single most valuable step in using AI effects well, and it costs only a few minutes per affected clip.
Plan AI effects on your computer before applying them, too: list which clips need an effect, what purpose each effect serves, and what strength you intend to use. That plan prevents the common pattern of applying effects impulsively in the app, clip after clip, until a video is over-processed. If you edit on an emulator, the larger display helps with checking effects, but the steps and the app are the same. Keep a note of effects and strengths that worked well, so future videos start from proven settings, not from guesswork.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use AI effects on every clip?
No. Use them sparingly, for a clear purpose, on one or two moments, and keep the rest of the video clean and natural.
Why does an AI effect look good in preview but bad after export?
Compression can soften detail and exaggerate flicker. Check the exported file and reduce strength or duration if needed.
What should I check on AI-effected clips?
Faces, hands, hair and clothing edges, and backgrounds, across the whole clip, not just the first second.
Can AI effects fix bad footage?
Rarely. They enhance good footage but often draw attention to fundamentally weak footage. Reshoot or cut around it instead.
Should I stack multiple AI effects on one clip?
Usually not. Stacked effects compound artefact risk and look increasingly processed. Test a combination on a short section first.
How strong should an AI effect be?
As low as possible while still achieving its purpose. A subtle effect that looks good is more successful than a strong, obvious one.
Next: Teleprompter in Edits →
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