How to use Generative AI in Adobe Premiere Pro

How To use Generative AI in Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe has built a significant set of AI tools into Premiere Pro over the past two years, powered by the Adobe Firefly model and a range of in-app machine learning features. Some of these are genuinely useful for cutting editing time. Others are impressive in demos but limited in practice. This guide covers every major AI feature in Premiere Pro, what each one actually does, and how to use them.

Premiere Pro’s AI Features

Premiere Pro’s AI tools fall into two categories. Some are included with your Premiere Pro subscription at no extra cost. Others use Adobe Firefly generative credits, which are bundled with Creative Cloud plans up to a monthly limit. Here is the full picture:

Feature	What it does	Requires
Text-Based Editing	Edit video by editing a transcript	Premiere Pro subscription
Generative Extend	AI-fills gaps between clips	Firefly credits
Remove Object	Erases objects from video frames	Firefly credits
Generate B-roll	Creates AI video clips from a text prompt	Firefly credits
Remix	Reformats a sequence for different aspect ratios	Premiere Pro subscription
Auto Tone	Automatically colour-corrects footage	Premiere Pro subscription
Speech to Text	Generates captions from audio	Premiere Pro subscription

Note: Firefly credit allocations vary by Creative Cloud plan. If you run out of credits, generative features are either paused or available at reduced quality until the next billing cycle. Check your current plan at account.adobe.com.

Text-Based Editing

Text-Based Editing is one of the most practical AI features in Premiere Pro. It transcribes your footage automatically and lets you edit the video by editing the text transcript rather than scrubbing through the timeline.

To use it, open a sequence and go to Window, then Text. Select the Transcript tab. Click Transcribe Sequence. Premiere will generate a searchable transcript of all dialogue. You can then select words or phrases in the transcript and delete them to cut those sections from the video, or use the search bar to find specific moments quickly.

This is particularly useful for long talking-head footage, interviews, and podcast recordings where you want to cut filler words and tighten up pacing without watching every second of the clip.

Practical tip: After transcription, use the search bar to find every instance of “um”, “uh”, or “you know” across the whole sequence. Select all and delete in one step.

Generative Extend

Generative Extend fills in gaps between clips using AI-generated frames that match the existing footage. It is designed to solve the problem of needing slightly more footage at the start or end of a clip than you actually have.

To use it, right-click a clip in the timeline and select Generative Extend. Set the number of frames to extend. Premiere will generate new frames that blend with the existing clip end. The result is not always perfect, especially with fast motion or complex backgrounds, but for static or slow-moving shots it can work well.

Common uses include extending a shot to give more room for a cut, padding a freeze frame transition, or filling a short gap between two takes.

Remove Object

Remove Object identifies and removes a specified element from video footage, replacing it with a generated background fill. Think of it as Content-Aware Fill from Photoshop, applied to video.

Open the Effect Controls panel, find the Remove Object effect, and draw a mask around the object you want to remove. Premiere will analyse the surrounding frames and generate a replacement background. Results are best on static or slow-moving backgrounds. Fast motion, reflective surfaces, and objects that interact with other moving elements will produce less clean results.

Our take: Remove Object is useful for cleaning up small, static distractions like a logo on a wall or an unwanted prop. For complex scenes or moving objects, manual masking and tracking will still produce better results.

Generate B-roll

Generate B-roll creates short AI video clips from a text prompt and inserts them directly into your timeline. This is the most visually impressive of the generative features and also the one with the most obvious limitations.

To use it, position the playhead where you want to insert B-roll. Go to the Text panel, select the Generate tab, type a prompt describing the footage you want, and click Generate. Premiere produces several short clip options for you to choose from.

The clips are clearly AI-generated and will look out of place in any production that uses real footage throughout. They are most useful as placeholders during editing, as stylised content for social media, or in productions where an intentionally synthetic look is acceptable.

Auto Reframe and Remix

Auto Reframe analyses your footage and automatically repositions the crop to keep the main subject in frame when reformatting for different aspect ratios. It is under Effects rather than the AI panel, but it uses machine learning to track subjects.

Remix reformats an entire sequence for a new aspect ratio, repositioning text, graphics, and footage to suit the new dimensions. It is genuinely useful for repurposing a 16:9 master cut for Instagram (4:5 or 9:16) without manually adjusting every element.

Speech to Text and Captions

Premiere Pro generates captions automatically from your audio transcript. In the Text panel, go to the Captions tab and click Create Captions. Premiere uses the transcript it already generated to create timed caption blocks, which you can then style and export as either burned-in subtitles or a separate sidecar file.

Accuracy is generally good for clear speech in English. Background noise, heavy accents, and overlapping voices will require manual correction. The caption editor lets you fix individual lines directly without going back to the transcript.

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