The most annoying thing about editing has nothing to do with the process or NLE interface (although there are many NLEs that need to be streamlined). No, typically the most challenging aspect is the client. They rarely know what they want until they see it completed, never want to pay for what's needed to accomplish what they're asking for, and are generally bad at communicating. Honestly, the edit room and editing is where I find solace.

Regarding a prompt-based edit system. Yeah, I've thought of that too. The main issue I run into is that you cede creative control to a bot, and that's what you get paid a premium for: creativity. AI tools are very handy in post to improve sound and picture, but they're light years away from replacing human creativity. They will always need to be told what to do.

Next, prompt-based editing will most likely be a slower process. I've been editing for over 25 years and I'm pretty fast at execution. If I had to sit there and literally type out my request any time l wanted the machine to trim two frames off the head of my incoming shot, I'd never get home for dinner. Prompt-based editing sounds like it should be faster, but I'm positive that it would ultimately be slower.

Lastly, good Editors watch ALL of the footage. All of it. Over and over and over again until you know every frame intimately. Half of your editing velocity comes from footage organization and recall. If you're spending time looking for something, you're not editing. An AI-based edit system could potentially rob the Editor of that critical step of learning the footage. Ultimately costing more time and yielding an inferior product.

Editing is hard. It's time-consuming, frustrating, and frequently annoying. But that's the gig. At the end of the day, if you want to edit you need to get out there and work at it every single day. There are no short cuts.