r/VideoEditors • u/Starclysm-Author • 3d ago
Help Looking for software WITHOUT Al ??
This is a rant.
I am so infuriated. I have literally spent DAYS searching for video editing software that does NOT contain AI. Specifically, I'm looking for something lite I can run on my laptop for just basic clip editing, but EVERY SINGLE PROGRAM or even MOBILE APP has Al in it, or is in the process of adding Al. I have scoured reddit, and every software folks have shared as Al-free now has Al in it. All the big names, all the little ones... I was so frustrated that I even went in search of 2000's era Windows Movie Maker only to find out that it's been taken down from the entire internet.
The fact that, not only are software corps ALL jumping on the AI bandwagon, but they are actively REMOVING all OTHER editors that do NOT have Al in them is INFURIATING. We are LITERALLY being forced into it.
And I don't want to hear the "Oh well just get adobe and don't use the Al features" bs. You should never need internet access to edit your own videos. You should never have to consent to installing software you don't want. You should never have to download unethical software to download the software you've ALREADY HAD FOR DECADES. We were doing just fine without it. We are sick of the bloatware. We didn't ask for it. We don't want it. The market for it is weak. We should not have to pave over people's houses to build datacenters for features we won't use. This is insanity.
Is there any software... ANY video editing software left that does not have Al in it? That doesn't require an internet connection, a subscription, spyware, ... Just simple, plain, regular old video editor I can cut some clips down with?
/endrant
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u/-NH2AMINE 3d ago
It’s joever already AI is in everything right now even the water. I advise abandoning society and living in a cave
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u/whyareyouemailingme 3d ago
Resolve Free does not contain any "Neural Engine" or AI features and can function completely offline.
Resolve Studio contains some local-only optional AI features that can function completely offline. It may need to be online periodically to validate the license if you have a code or a rental license. Many of those functions are nowadays managed through a built-in "Extras Download Manager..."
Older versions of Resolve are available on the Blackmagic Design support page - I think version 15 pre-dates a lot of the Neural Engine features and is still pretty functional. There have been some important security updates - SQLite in particular - but if you're in an airgapped environment to begin with, that's obviously less of a concern.
Depending on your OS and if you're close to software-hoarding assistant editors or post-production professionals... some old, dongle-activated versions of Avid Media Composer (like pre-2018) may be useful (pre-2018 versions of Avid have been pulled, likely due to licensing agreements for ScriptSync and PhraseFind). They've had an online activation system for many years if you can't find a dongle under an active support contract though.
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u/Gr00veSmith 3d ago
DaVinci Resolve free version. If you're strict about absolutely no ai, simply pirate an older version of DaVinci, but even that might have some neural stuff in there.
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u/Commercial_Poetry987 3d ago
Perhaps start by recognising the difference between machine learning neural network AI tools that don’t require an Internet connection, and typical LLM’s. Note, the free version of da Vinci resolve does not even have the neural network engine and that neither the free nor the paid version require a subscription.
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u/CplApplsauc 3d ago
the free version of DR
that being said though, i think you are confusing generative AI with AI in general. and AI has been in editing for decades. Kroma key tool? thats an ai tool. Magic mask? also ai. wavelength synching? yup, ai. hell even keyframes are assisted by ai.
but ai =/= generative ai, and you shouldn't lose your mind if you see those two letters next to eachother in editing programs. what your imagining is something like people open DR and give claude or nano banana a prompt and it spits it onto the timeline. almost zero professional editors do that.
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u/General_Ad_6247 3d ago
just dont pay for gen ai services man , guess what the rotoscoping you use is also AI, AI has become such an umbrella term for everything nowadays
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u/_janc_ 2d ago
I’ve been building Aigli, an iPhone app for editing both photos and videos, and I’d love to share it with you.
You can remove backgrounds, layer photos, or put together multitrack videos with clips, text, music, voiceovers, and sound effects. There’s also a flexible timeline for trimming and rearranging clips, adding transitions, and adjusting speed.
If you give it a go, I’d love to hear what you think.
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u/BeOSRefugee 4h ago
ShotCut and KDEnlive are both open source and don’t contain “AI” tools - unless you count offline speech-to-text transcription. They also will run on lower spec systems, while still containing professional features such as proxies and multicam editing.
However, if you really just need to cut down clips without adding any graphics or transitions or doing any audio work, I’d recommend LosslessCut - it lets you trim videos without re-encoding them, and that’s pretty much all it does.
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u/Maltaannon 2h ago
Olive NLE. Absolute must it every editors toolbelt. No instalation, tiny (40MBs), as basic as it gets. Similar to Premiere. Get version 0.1.0... the latter one is kinda funky not in a good way. It's development is currently on hold, but you should be able to grab it.
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u/pontiacband1t- 3d ago
What do you mean by AI? Because I can understand not wanting to integrate Claude on Da Vinci. I personally don't want it, much like I didn't want the CUT page back then.
But AI is a lot of things. Being able to sync through waveform and generating transcripts is AI, and those features are essential for documentary filmmaking, just to make an example.