Instagram's Edits app takes on CapCut as AI video floods social feeds

Instagram's new mobile video editing app Edits is about to launch, a direct challenge to CapCut, the popular editor owned by TikTok parent ByteDance. The app is packed with generative AI features and is available for pre-registration on Android and pre-order on iOS, with release expected within weeks.

Marketers are being advised to familiarize themselves with the app early, as Meta positions it against both CapCut and YouTube's AI editing tools.

The launch lands amid growing unease about AI-generated video flooding social feeds. Viral examples include a clip of birds sheltering inside flowers with 31 million views and a baby seal rescue video with 5.4 million views, both fabricated. In one case, a professional dancer's Facebook page with 2.4 million followers appears to have been hijacked by bad actors now pumping out AI-generated animal rescue videos.

Critics note that many viewers either cannot tell the videos are fake or do not care, sharing them anyway, which is precisely the engagement the platforms reward. The concern is that the pressure to feed the algorithm, now supercharged by cheap AI generation, is eroding the value of authentic content.

YouTube is pushing the same direction, rolling out a major upgrade to its Dream Screen feature for Shorts powered by Google DeepMind's video generation model. Creators can generate standalone six-second clips, combine clips into longer sequences, and create backgrounds from text prompts.

Instagram has also introduced Blend, a feature built into direct messaging that creates a shared feed of AI-recommended Reels for a user and a friend, the latest in a string of additions aimed at increasing time spent in the app.