Vimeo to Introduce Generative AI Tools for Video Production

A focus on barriers to video production; this looks promising!

Vimeo announced today it will add generative AI tools to streamline video production beginning in July. You can tell what Vimeo believes is important by the focus of its second paragraph.

Vimeo’s research shows that 80 percent of people prefer videos over written text, yet most people are uncomfortable creating videos themselves, and lack the skills, time, or resources to effectively create and edit videos. Its latest AI-powered features eliminate these barriers by generating a polished script in seconds, the opportunity to be more natural in front of the camera with a customizable teleprompter, and the ability to remove any unwanted moments from their videos in just a few clicks.

Write, Say, Polish

The company clearly wants to make video creation and production more accessible to novice users and more efficient for experienced creators. Vimeo’s three core generative AI features address problem areas that can take significant time, skill, and know-how during planning, recording, and post-production.

With the new AI video suite, users can create a fully produced video in minutes:

• AI-powered script generator - create a video script in seconds using generative AI; type a brief text description and select your preferred tone and video length

• Teleprompter - stay on script while maintaining natural eye contact with the webcam with Vimeo’s built-in display; personalize font size and pace while recording with the company’s fully integrated teleprompter

• Text-based video editor - automatically delete filler words, long pauses, and awkward moments, with a single click

Making Videos Easier to Produce

Faster and more accessible video production could mean more video creators and more videos per creator. It’s as if the company said, “What are the biggest stumbling blocks before, during, and after video production?” and then applied generative AI to the tasks that slow down the process or keep people from even recording videos.

Script generation is becoming a common feature among solutions that offer AI avatars that deliver a video message. Plus, numerous third-party tools, including ChatGPT, can help with this task.

If you think about the value proposition for the AI Avatar Video Generation (AAVG), it is nearly the same. They recognize that recording videos is hard and editing is harder. Their logic is you don’t have to worry about that if the presenter and post-production are all digital and AI-enabled.

You might consider that the AAVG providers represent a threat to Vimeo because some creators may shift from human presenters to using “digital people” to take advantage of the efficiencies.

This makes the other two features even more interesting. If the human presenter has a teleprompter, it can be easier to get through the script and make sure key points are included. That means fewer takes and less stress. However, few people have teleprompters, and adding one to their technology stack increases complexity. Integrating it into your scriptwriter and video capture application reduces the barrier to adoption.

Then there are the disfluencies such as “ums,” “ahs,” and pauses that make video presentations look unpolished. If you are not a professional speaker, these are problems that make video a more intimidating media format. If you are a professional speaker, you probably still have these issues.

Post-production editing can go a long way if you want an erudite presentation of your material. However, a lack of video editing skills is another barrier to video recording. Vimeo is saying that generative AI will take care of that for you. No technical skill is required.

You still have a human looking into the camera and recording the video. That is also a skill that must be developed and can cause discomfort. It is another reason the AAVGs will still have strong user interest. With that said, these tools could make video production more commonplace. Recording a polished-looking video could become easier than writing an email response.

Rethinking Existing Processes

I spoke today with a software company founder that added generative AI to a solution that has been around for more than five years. The technology is now used to streamline or eliminate existing processes and create new processes that didn’t exist before the generative AI revolution.

This process or workflow reinvention, elimination, and invention seems to be arriving faster for generative AI than “hot” technologies from the recent past. Some of those did lead to process and workflow impact, but they seemed to linger longer in the novelty and maturation phases.

We have also seen too many “Look at Me!” press releases where generative AI only minimally impacts features and processes. They sometimes seem like performance art designed only for the headline. That is a choice more than a technology limitation. Abundant evidence shows that the technology can do a lot today.

Vimeo’s announcement is one of the genre's more understated and concise and is refreshingly founded on addressing actual problems. We will have to wait and see how well these features work. However, these three generative AI features could be transformative for creators, processes, and Vimeo’s total addressable market.