#512 – Can AI editors cut it?

This isn't the first time I've asked the question - Can you actually edit with AI?

And I know it won't be the last time.

But this week DaVinci Resolve 21.1 was released with a new ‘AI Assistant MCP Server’ built in, so it's a good time to revisit the topic.

Why should I care about MCP Servers?

What this means is that your chat-bot of choice can now directly control DaVinci Resolve, through it's (limited but growing) list of functions accessible via the API as well as through workarounds such as computer-use* and writing custom scripts.

The marketing spin (as always) is that this will “save you time, speed up your workflow and offload boring repetitive drudgery.” Which could be true, but its still early days and (I would argue) some of that ‘drudgery’ is the work where you learn the footage, so you know what to edit, so you can be part of the process.

*The AI controls the mouse and keyboard to do things like a human.

Should you be afraid?

Um, no.

Tools like these are often much slower than doing it yourself, often deliver incomplete results and are generally unreliable enough that you need to double check everything they do.

At least that's my experience so far.

So should we ignore them as folly?

Um, no.

They're only going to get better, and in the right context and with the right workflows could actually save you time and money.

Natalie from Team 2 Films puts it well in the conclusion of their latest tutorial.

Technological innovation affects jobs.

As an editor, you work in a competitive market where people value your speed, cost, or the quality of your work. If an AI agent can reliably complete a task quicker, with greater quality, or at a lower cost, then it might start to take work away from people—but that's not new.

If a fellow human editor can reliably complete a task quicker, with greater quality, or at a lower cost, then they will also take work away from other people.

Whether a better AI tool or a better human editor comes along, it's possible to use scenarios like that as an opportunity to elevate and improve your own creativity and abilities.

Remember that true creativity is still a rare skill and one that is in demand.

— Team 2 Films

The New AI Assistant MCP Server in DaVinci Resolve 21.1

Natalie from Team 2 Films walks through the kind of things you can do in DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Studio with the new MCP connection including:

• Creating a new project then locating and importing media
• Updating B-CAM timecode (Using a workaround)
• Removing timecode embedded audio channels
• Syncing external audio and multiple cameras
• Using Scene Cut Detection
• Dialogue transcription to power a rough assembly
• Automating segmented TIFF caching & final render
• Generating vertical shorts
• Multicam colour grading setup (GUI Control Workaround)

What's interesting to me is that the Claude agent finds useful solutions and workarounds to the problems it needs to tackle, especially if it can't find a direct solution in the API list, such as resorting to clicking with the mouse via Computer Use.

What should be obvious is how s l o w agentic editing is.

The work is sped up in the screen captures plus if you look closely you'll see a “I got stuck” message in the chat flow and other issues that could mean that when you “pop back from lunch” there's not the result you expected waiting for you.

It also costs real money/tokens to run these agents. Granted they might be much cheaper than a human assistant, although much less rewarding to work with.

Deterministic vs Agentic Editing

It would be more cost effective for Claude to build you a custom script that would do some of those same tasks without burning any tokens every time you ran it.

For example, a reusable custom script** to:

• Start a new project
• Import the media (you point it to)
• Organise that media into bins
• Sync the media (based on timecode or audio)
• Transcribe it
• Create set stringout timelines

This script would be deterministic, meaning it runs the same fixed steps every time, but instantly and for free, while agentic editing reasons about each new situation on the fly, using Computer Use to cover gaps in the API which is slower, burns tokens, yet is able to adapt to situations where no direct script exists.

**I asked Claude about this script and it's all viable with the expanded API in 21.1

Setting up Resolve MCP (Studio only)

• File > Set Up AI Assistants
• It automatically finds any installed AI services (Claude, Chat-GPT, Gemini etc.)
• Approve the installation of the MCP connection in your chosen service.
• Done

What else is new in DaVinci Resolve 21.1?

As always DaVinci Resolve 21.1 features a HUGE range of new features and improvements and for a decent run down of the best of those from a working editor's perspective check out this new video from Chadwick of Creative Video Tips, including:

• 00:23 - Playhead stays in place
• 00:36 - Edit Page Updates
• 01:33 - Trim Editor
• 03:09 - Multicam
• 05:55 - Compare Timelines Window
• 06:50 - 21.1 Fusion Updates
• 09:04 - Agentic AI Integration
• 10:26 - What’s an MCP