Labor Market Polarization: AI and the Reshaping of the Video Editing Industry
Definition: Polarization of labor markets refers to a situation in which changes in technology lead to increased demand for higher- and lower-skill jobs, whilst negatively affect middle-skill occupations. This effect is also playing out intensely in many fields, particularly in the creative world.
Top on this list would have to be the world of video editing. What was once a high-level skill that takes years to master and required the use of expensive software to accomplish, can now be learned in a matter of minutes. With the explosion of beginner-friendly AI tools, the barrier to entry has dramatically dropped, and along with it, the market value of traditional middle-tier editing jobs.
The Hollowing Out of the Middle
For a long time, video editing was one of those mid-wage, skilled professions. Editors were needed to trim down footage, fix audio levels, color grade, and export in multiple formats—skills learned through trial and error, and often over years. But new technology is making a lot of this work push-button simple.
Today, someone seeking the best video editing software for beginners will discover a deluge of AI-enhanced tools that automate not just simple cuts, but also things like effects, transitions, soundtracks and, in some cases, script writing. Products like Descript, Runway, and Pictory use machine learning to make video production almost as simple as writing an email. The result is a hollowing out of the middle: there are still jobs for visionary directors and high-end post-production artists, but routine editing work is disappearing.
High vs. Low Skill Polarization
Technological advancements in the 21st century hasn’t been uniform across job categories, according to a report from the Brookings Institution. In creative fields, automation typically squeezes out midlevel tasks while prioritizing high-concept, strategic roles and enabling low-skilled entrants. The result is a U-shaped labor curve: growth at the top and bottom, but contraction in the middle.
For video, this means:
Top end: There is still demand for high-value creative direction, narrative development, and experimental media work.
Bottom end: Entry-level creators—YouTubers, TikTokers, marketing interns—can now make a perfectly acceptable video with free tools.
Middle: Freelancers, in-house editors, and boutique post-production firms have to deal with commoditization, fee compression or irrelevance.
The AI Disruption Engine
The rate at which AI is revolutionizing the editing workflow is mind-boggling. A task like removing a background, a process that used to involve frame-by-frame work in Adobe Premiere or After Effects, can now be done in seconds thanks to AI apps with drag-and-drop functionality. One company, Runway ML, raked in more than $100 million in 2023 on the explicit promise to “make video editing as easy as writing text.”
This creates a paradox: as editing tools grow more capable and accessible, routine editing labor loses value. The very technology that was meant to help editors are now displacing them, much in the way word processors displaced typists.
Broader Economic Implications
This trend is not only true for video editing. Similar dynamics are playing out in customer service (chatbots), graphic design (Canva), and coding (GitHub Copilot). The fundamental principle at play here—labor market polarization—has major implications for the economy:
Wage gap may get even higher as mid-skill workers face competition amid automation.
The pressure to reskill rises as editors now need to learn directing, motion graphics, or AI prompt engineering to stay in the game.
The power of the platforms increases as a handful of software companies capture disproportionate value from millions of users coming for their tools.
Conclusion
In many ways, the democratization of video editing can be viewed as a double-edged sword. It allows new artists to take flight and cuts production costs for small businesses and entrepreneurs. However, it also causes the devaluation of a large category of creative labor that has historically been the bread and butter of freelance editors and small studios.
As AI technology develops, creative professionals will need to be prepared not only to compete with these machines, but also to partner with them in ways that enhance works with the power of imagination, to transform them into engaging narratives, and to innovate. In this new age of automation, it’s not the best editor that wins. Rather, it’s the one who understands what to edit in the first place that thrive.