Final Cut Pro will gain AI effects and text captions

During its Mac mini launch, Apple showed off some previously unannounced AI features coming to its Final Cut Pro video editor.

As part of the M4 Mac mini launch video, Shloka Kini, Apple's Mac mini product manager, revealed new AI-based features coming to Final Cut Pro. The news came in a segment comparing the device to similarly-priced PCs.

"Compared to the top-selling PC desktop in its price range, the new mini is one twentieth the size," said Kini. "And yet it's up to an astonishing 6 times faster for workloads like video editing."

"And if you're upgrading from an Intel-based Mac mini, performance is up to 13 times faster with M4 for tasks like speech-to-text processing," she continued. "So you can use AI to instantly apply video effects and generate captions for a ton of posts with the upcoming version of Final Cut Pro."

During this section, Kini showed the new Final Cut Pro feature called "Transcribe to Captions." It automatically created captions close to instantly for a 10-minute video.

Video editing software interface showing audio and color adjustment options, timeline with labeled tracks, and a waveform display above controls.

Detail from Apple's video showing the new Final Cut Pro "Transcribe to Captions" feature — image credit: Apple

Curiously, Kini specifically described this feature and the speed of video effects by saying it was using AI. She did not say Apple Intelligence, and it wasn't until a following segment that Apple's version of AI was mentioned.

It's possible that this was because the features are exclusive to the one app, Final Cut Pro. Other Apple Intelligence features have available system-wide, where applicable.

Apple has not announced a release date for this forthcoming version of Final Cut Pro. It also has not said whether these AI features will come to the M4 iPad Pro, although the most recent Final Cut Pro update was on both iPad and Mac.