What are the absolute best AI tools for professional video editing this year that actually work and arent just toys? I have been trying to stay on top of all the tech news but honestly my head is spinning and Im getting more frustrated by the second because everything looks like a gimmick. Im a freelance editor based in Chicago and I just landed this huge documentary project that needs to be wrapped by the end of next month but the raw footage is a nightmare. There is so much background clutter in these interview shots and I really need a way to clean it up without spending three days on a single mask.

I did some digging and saw everyone talking about Runway Gen-2 and I thought maybe that was the answer but when I tried it the results looked so weird and mushy like a dream or something?? It definitely doesnt look professional enough for a high-end doc. Then I looked at Adobe Firefly and the new generative stuff in Premiere but some people on Reddit were saying it crashes their systems constantly or it only works on low res proxies which is useless for my 4K workflow. I dont have time to wait for things to render just for them to look fake in the end.

I have about $100 a month I can throw at extra subscriptions if they actually save me time but I cant keep wasting hours testing tools that dont deliver. Is there something better for stuff like object removal or smart color grading that actually feels natural? Or even something for audio cleaning that isnt just the basic Enhance Speech thing in Premiere? I need tools that can handle a heavy workload and not just make 5-second clips for TikTok. Im really starting to panic about this deadline because of how much manual cleanup I have left to do... what are you guys actually using in your real professional workflows?