Instagram is rolling out a Reels-editing feature called First Draft that automatically trims pauses and silences from your video clips and stitches the results into a timeline ready for further editing or posting. The feature is available on iOS first; no Android date has been shared.
Here's how it works: open the camera app or your Reels gallery, select more than one clip, and tap the First Draft button. Instagram analyzes the footage — the company's own example uses clips each longer than a minute — cuts the dead air, and lays the trimmed snippets into a single editable reel. From there you can keep editing or push it straight to your feed or Story.
Meta says First Draft works with 'multi-clip montages, talking-head videos, and day-in-the-life content.' The company also says you can use it immediately after shooting new footage inside the app.
Here's the thing. Instagram spokesperson Nicole Rechtszaid confirmed to The Verge that First Draft does not use AI. Engadget notes that Meta may technically be classifying the feature as 'machine learning' rather than AI — a distinction that is either meaningful engineering taxonomy or very careful brand management, depending on how charitable you are feeling.
The comparison point is Adobe's Quick Cut, which does use AI and combines clips based on a prompt. First Draft is narrower: it finds the pauses and removes them. No prompt, no generative layer, no hallucinated B-roll.
Meta launched Edits, a standalone video editing app, in April 2025, loaded with AI-powered features aimed at making Reels easier to produce. First Draft lands inside Instagram proper and skips the AI branding entirely — a notable departure from a company that has spent the past year stuffing Meta AI into messages and Stories whether users wanted it there or not.
Voltage take: The no-AI label is the most interesting thing about First Draft. Meta has been aggressive about planting its AI flag on every surface it can reach, so a useful, unglamorous tool that just cuts the boring parts — and ships without the AI badge — is either a sign of genuine product discipline or a read of the room after users pushed back on forced AI integrations. Either way, a feature that saves creators ten minutes of scrubbing through pauses is more immediately valuable than a chatbot in your DMs. The demo is not the product, but this one at least does what it says on the label.
