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Making short videos with AI: a workflow from script to publishing and the risks to avoid

The types of AI video tools (scene generation, virtual presenters, clip cutting, text-based editing), a 6-step production workflow, and the issues of transparency, copyright and deepfakes.

Edited by PickYourToolUpdated: 2026-10-266 min read

Video is the fastest-changing area of AI tools. In a short time, tools that could only produce unstable clips of a few seconds can now produce footage with clear motion, virtual presenters who speak many languages, and automatic cutting of long videos into short clips. This opens up fast production, but it also raises questions of quality, transparency and the law. This article helps you sort the tools and build a practical workflow.

Five groups of AI video tools

1. Scene generation from text or images. You describe a scene and the tool produces a short clip. Suited to illustrative scenes, B-roll, effects and advertising ideas. Common limits: short length, difficulty keeping a character consistent across scenes, unrealistic details, and hard-to-control precision.

2. Virtual presenters (avatars). You provide a script and the tool creates a person speaking to camera, often supporting many languages. Suited to training videos and product tutorials. Consider how viewers will feel if they know it is not a real person.

3. Turning articles into videos. The tool combines a script with stock footage, music, subtitles and a voiceover. Fast but easily looks generic; it needs editing to have an identity.

4. Cutting short clips from long videos. The tool identifies the best segments of a podcast or webinar, then creates vertical clips with subtitles. It saves a lot of work if you already have long content.

5. Text-based editing and automatic subtitles. You edit the transcript and the video is cut accordingly. Also includes noise removal, filler-word removal and subtitle translation.

You can look at the "Video" and "Voice & Music" groups in the directory.

The 6-step workflow

1. Define the goal and the audience

Is the video for selling, training, introducing or entertaining? Which platform are viewers on? A 15–60 second vertical video for social media is entirely different from a 5-minute explainer on a website.

2. Write the script first

Whatever tool you use, the script is still the backbone. A simple structure: an opening line that grabs attention in the first 3 seconds, the problem, the solution or main content, and a call to action. You can ask an assistant to write a draft, then edit it following the content writing workflow.

3. Choose your sources of footage

Decide which scenes to shoot for real, which to make with AI and which to take from stock. A useful rule: real products, people and places should be filmed for real; use AI for scenes that are hard to shoot, for illustrating concepts, and for transitions.

4. Generate and select

Generate several times for each scene and choose the best. AI scenes often have small errors: hands, text, deformed objects, unnatural motion. Watch every second at slow speed before using it. With tools that charge by credits, estimate the number of attempts so you do not use up your quota.

5. Edit, subtitles, audio

Assemble the scenes in an editor, add subtitles (most social media viewers watch with the sound off), licensed background music and a clear voiceover. For Vietnamese, check the diacritics and proper names in automatic subtitles carefully. See also AI voices and ethics.

6. Check, label and publish

Check against the checklist below, then export in the right format and ratio for each platform.

Checklist before posting

• ☐ Is the content truthful and not misleading?
• ☐ Does it use a real person's face or voice, and do you have consent?
• ☐ Do the music, images and fonts have commercial-use licenses?
• ☐ Do the tool's terms allow commercial use on the plan you are using?
• ☐ Has realistic AI-generated content been labeled where the platform requires it?
• ☐ Are the subtitles spelled correctly, with enough contrast to read?
• ☐ Are there a suitable description, tags and cover image?

Transparency and platforms

Many platforms now have policies requiring uploaders to disclose when realistic content has been created or edited with AI, especially if it could make viewers believe it is a real event or a real person. YouTube, for example, has a dedicated policy page on synthetic or altered content. The EU AI Act also sets transparency obligations for AI-generated image, audio and video content that looks real. The specific rules change, so check the policy of the platform where you post.

A simple practice: if viewers could mistake a scene for real and that misunderstanding could affect their decisions, say so clearly.

Copyright and image rights

Like images, AI-generated video can raise questions about whether it is protected and whether it infringes others' rights (see AI image copyright). With video, two more sensitive points:

• Image and voice rights. Do not create videos with a real person's face or voice without clear consent, especially celebrities, competitors or colleagues. This is both an ethical issue and potentially a violation of the law.
• Virtual presenters based on real people. If you create a virtual copy of yourself or an employee, have a written consent that states the scope and period of use.

Quality: what AI does not yet do well

• Keeping characters and settings consistent across many scenes.
• Complex actions with many people and objects interacting.
• Text on screens and signs.
• Lip movement when speaking many languages, especially tonal languages.

These limits are improving fast, but do not assume a tool will manage; test it with your own real content.

Cost and time

Video tool pricing is usually by credits or by minutes exported. Scene-generation tools can use many credits per attempt. A way to estimate: number of scenes × average number of attempts × credits per attempt. See how to read AI tool pricing.

Conclusion

AI video works best as one part of a scripted production workflow: real filming for what must be real, AI for what is hard to shoot, and careful checking before posting. Trust with your viewers is a long-term asset, worth more than any beautiful shot.

This article is general reference only and does not replace legal or professional advice. See also the editorial, affiliate and review policy.