Will Video Editing Have Its ‘Cursor Moment’?
“It requires both rationality and deep sensibility.”
🚦 Is Video Editing Approaching Its Inflection Point?
Just as programming was revolutionized by tools like Cursor and Claude Code, a parallel question emerges for creative workflows: Will video editing undergo a similar paradigm shift?
This episode of “Crossroads” features Li Kaiwen, founder of ChatCut — an AI-native video editing platform born from a unique fusion of cinematic craft and technical vision.
Before launching ChatCut, Kaiwen was an award-nominated documentary and commercial director — his short film “Sin Seed” was selected for the Golden Horse Awards. He’s worked with VICE Media, Discovery, and founded Homework Production. His editing experience spans chaotic, unscripted footage — raw material where narrative order must be discovered, not imposed.
That background forged a radically different perspective on AI + video:
- ❌ No pixel generation — ChatCut edits existing footage, never synthesizes visuals.
- 🎯 Serving non-editors first — targeting creators who want to tell stories but lack editing skills, not professional editors.
- 🧪 “Alchemist culture” over algorithm worship — prioritizing human judgment, workflow intuition, and craft over model benchmarks.
These counterintuitive choices reflect a deeper thesis: AI’s highest-value role in video isn’t creation — it’s intelligent, conversational curation and assembly.
🎬 A New Format: Two-Scene Conversation
This episode breaks format — no studio desk, no static setup. Instead, we filmed across two immersive, real-world environments:
🚗 Scene 1: On the Road
We drove together from Shanghai’s city center toward the suburbs — Kaiwen in the passenger seat, conversation flowing freely for ~60 minutes. The motion, openness, and spontaneity set the tone.
🌊 Scene 2: By the Lake
We arrived at a serene lakeside pavilion — the same location where Kaiwen lived in solitude for a year while incubating ChatCut. Here, the dialogue deepened: philosophy, product design, and the soul of creative toolmaking.
📱 Listen Anywhere
WeChat Podcast
Xiao Yu Zhou (Xiaoyuzhou) Podcast
▶️ Watch Across Platforms
Video podcast is live on:
– @Koji Yang Yuancheng (YouTube)
– Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)
– Bilibili
– Official WeChat Video Channel
🧭 Full Episode Outline (16,994 words)
🟢 Quick-Fire Q&A: Age, education, MBTI & zodiac, one-sentence pitch for ChatCut, funding status, team size, pre-founder career
🟢 Leaving the City Center: How divine timing pushed Kaiwen toward building from zero
🟢 First Investor: Why Antler’s Eric saw potential before product — and why VC “empowerment” beats “brilliance”
🟢 Product First Principle: Why “Most editing happens in Word documents”
🟢 Early Adventure Muscle: From Anshan to Kent School, then RISD — how curiosity forged resilience
🟢 Director vs. CEO: Film sets are SWAT teams; startups are long-term investments in people
🟢 Funding Methodology: Chemistry > perfect pitch. Rejection is just part of the alignment process
🟢 Life Leverage: Having “something to do” is the greatest wealth — even above financial freedom
🟢 Vision Landscape: Not replacing editors — becoming the AI assistant working on top of editors
🟢 The Hardest Question: Where does style come from — and can AI learn it without labeled data?
🟢 Key Decision: No pixel generation — authenticity over synthetic polish
🟢 Technical Hurdles: Context windows & multimodal maturity aren’t ready for true “editable video”
🟢 Why “God’s Work” Was Unclaimed: The gap wasn’t tech — it was workflow-first insight into unscripted editing
🟢 Ditch “Absolute Right”, Cultivate “Good Habits”: Training AI on editorial intuition, not rigid rules
🟢 Model红利 (Model Dividend): How Gemini 2.5/3.0 unlocked context scale & MG animation capabilities
🟢 The “For-Love Builders”: Inside ChatCut’s “alchemist” culture — tinkerers over task-takers
🟢 Film Won’t Disappear: Why human presence — flawed, real, alive — remains irreplaceable
🔍 Quick-Fire Q&A
👦🏻 Koji: Age?
🧑🏻💻 Kaiwen: 1992.
👦🏻 Koji: Education?
🧑🏻💻 Kaiwen: Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
👦🏻 Koji: MBTI & zodiac?
🧑🏻💻 Kaiwen: Long outdated — but today: INTP, Pisces.
👦🏻 Koji: One sentence for ChatCut?
🧑🏻💻 Kaiwen: “Edit videos by chatting.”
👦🏻 Koji: Funding?
🧑🏻💻 Kaiwen: Recently closed ~¥10M RMB seed round.
👦🏻 Koji: Team size?
🧑🏻💻 Kaiwen: 10 people.
👦🏻 Koji: Pre-founder career?
🧑🏻💻 Kaiwen: Documentary & commercial director (VICE, Discovery), founder of Homework Production, Golden Horse-nominated filmmaker.
🌐 Key Insights & Philosophy
✨ “The Obstacle Is The Way”
Kaiwen reframes struggle not as a barrier to success — but as the substance of the work itself. Drawing from Stoic philosophy and filmmaking endurance, he argues: If there were no obstacles, there would be no job.
🤝 “Alchemists Over Engineers”
At ChatCut, “alchemists” are cross-role builders — engineers who tinker, designers who prototype, PMs who obsess. They’re driven by amor (love), not just deliverables. As Kaiwen says: “If you only do assigned tasks, AI will replace you — because AI does assignments perfectly.”
🧩 “Style Is Workflow, Not Output”
Style doesn’t emerge from aesthetic presets — it’s the byproduct of consistent, thoughtful decisions: how you log footage, structure transcripts, tag sound bites, or choose transitions. ChatCut encodes these micro-habits — not macro-style filters.
🌊 “The Lake Mindset”
Living alone by the lake taught Kaiwen patience, clarity, and non-attachment to outcomes. That stillness became the foundation for building something enduring — not viral.
💡 Technical Strategy & Differentiation
| Dimension | Industry Norm | ChatCut Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Input | Raw video uploads | Transcribe → edit text → map back to timeline |
| Output | Generate new pixels (Sora, Kling, etc.) | Zero pixel generation — only recombine & enhance original footage |
| User Target | Professional editors | Creators who aren’t editors yet — teachers, realtors, YouTubers, founders |
| AI Role | Autonomous creator | Collaborative assistant — “junior editor who learns your taste” |
| Tech Stack Focus | Multimodal LVMs | Context-aware LLMs (Gemini 2.5/3.0) + lightweight video processing |
| Monetization | API credits, enterprise tiers | Product-led growth: free tier → usage-based Pro ($19/mo) |
🎯 Vision: When ChatCut “Wins”
Success isn’t market dominance — it’s invisibility.
“When ChatCut feels as natural as writing an email in Gmail or asking ChatGPT a question — when everyone uses it, but no one talks about it — that’s success. Because then, the tool has faded. What remains is the creator’s voice, amplified.”
🌟 Final Reflection: “I Know I’m Lucky”
Kaiwen rates his current life satisfaction at 9/10 — not due to funding or traction, but because he’s doing work that feels like destiny.
“I’m not chasing a ‘perfect’ outcome. I hear the music — so I trust the improvisation. That’s what makes this scene good.”
He closes with a quiet certainty: “Film won’t disappear. But the way we make it — and who gets to make it — is changing forever.”
Article originally published by “Crossroads” — a premium AI & creator culture podcast.
