How to Make YouTube Shorts with AI

Creating YouTube Shorts that get views feels like a constant race against the algorithm, but artificial intelligence is flipping the script for creators. AI tools can help you generate ideas, write scripts, produce videos, and even edit them faster than ever before. This guide will walk you through exactly how to use AI to streamline every step of your YouTube Shorts creation process, from the first spark of an idea to the final, published video.

Why AI is a Game-Changer for YouTube Shorts Creators

In the fast-paced world of short-form video, speed and consistency are everything. You need a steady stream of fresh ideas and the ability to produce content quickly to stay relevant. This is where AI transforms your workflow. Instead of staring at a blank page, you can get dozens of video ideas in seconds. Instead of spending hours hunting for the right stock clips, AI can assemble them for you based on a script. For solopreneurs, small businesses, and anyone juggling content creation with other responsibilities, AI acts as a creative partner and a virtual production assistant rolled into one. It handles the repetitive, time-consuming tasks, freeing you up to focus on the bigger picture: building your brand and connecting with your audience.

Step 1: Ideation and Scripting with AI

Every great Short starts with a solid idea. AI language models are incredibly powerful for brainstorming and scripting, helping you overcome creative blocks and develop concepts that hook viewers from the very first second.

Brainstorming Hooks and Video Concepts

Your number one goal in a Short is to stop the scroll. AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Jasper are perfect for generating compelling hooks. The trick is to be specific with your prompts. Instead of asking for "YouTube Shorts ideas," give the AI context about your niche, target audience, and desired format.

Effective Prompt Examples:

• "I run a YouTube channel about financial literacy for millennials. Give me 10 YouTube Short ideas about common money mistakes people make in their 20s. Frame them as '3 Mistakes You're Making' or 'The #1 Rule For...'"
• "Generate 5 scroll-stopping hooks for a YouTube Short about an easy-to-cook vegan pasta recipe. Make them controversial or surprising."
• "My audience are busy entrepreneurs. What are 7 struggles they face that I can turn into 'quick tip' YouTube Shorts? For each struggle, write me a catchy 3-second hook."

The AI will give you a list you can pick from, edit, or use as a jumping-off point for even better ideas. Think of it as a creative collaborator that never runs out of inspiration.

Writing the Full Script

Once you have a great hook and concept, you can use the same AI tool to flesh out the entire script. A typical YouTube Short script is only around 100-150 words, so you want to be direct and punchy. Feed your chosen hook back to the AI and ask it to write a complete script.

Example Prompt:

"Okay, I like the hook 'The one kitchen gadget that actually saves you money.' Write a 60-second YouTube Short script that starts with this hook. The script should reveal that the gadget is a vacuum sealer, then quickly show three examples of how it prevents food waste: preserving avocados, storing bulk meat, and keeping berries fresh. End with a clear call to action like, 'Follow for more kitchen hacks.'"

Remember, AI-generated text is a first draft. Always review and revise the script to match your personal brand voice and style. Read it out loud to make sure it sounds natural and conversational. Cut any sentences that don't add value - in a Short, every word counts.

Step 2: Generating Visuals and Voiceovers with AI

After your script is ready, AI can help you produce the actual video content. This is where things get really exciting, especially for creators who don’t want to be on camera or who lack the budget for extensive filming.

AI Text-to-Video Generators

Platforms like InVideo AI, Pictory, and Fliki have revolutionized "faceless" content creation. The process is remarkably simple: you paste your script into the tool, and the AI analyzes the text. It then automatically searches vast libraries of royalty-free stock videos and images to find clips that match the content of each sentence. In minutes, it assembles these clips into a video sequence, saving you hours of manual searching and editing.

You can then go in and easily swap any clips you don't like, adjust the timing, and add your own branding. These tools turn written words into engaging visual stories with minimal effort.

AI Voiceovers

You don't need a professional microphone setup to have a clean, clear voiceover. Most text-to-video platforms have built-in AI voice generators. Alternatively, standalone tools like Murf.ai and ElevenLabs offer ultra-realistic voices that are nearly indistinguishable from human narration.

You can choose from hundreds of voices, accents, and tones - from energetic and friendly to authoritative and calm. Just paste your script, select a voice, and the AI generates an audio file you can layer over your video. This is a fantastic option for explaining complex topics, telling stories, or creating informational content with a consistent, professional sound.

Unique Visuals with AI Image Generators

What if stock footage feels too generic? For completely unique B-roll or background visuals, you can use AI image generators like Midjourney, DALL-E 3, or Stable Diffusion. Use them to create anything you can imagine, from hyper-realistic photos to stylized digital art that perfectly matches your script's theme. A series of these images can be turned into a slideshow-style video, offering a visual style that no one else has.

Step 3: Editing and Post-Production with AI-Powered Tools

Editing is often the most time-consuming part of video creation. Luckily, AI-powered features are now baked into many popular video editors, automating tedious tasks and making the final polish much faster.

AI-Powered Captions and Subtitles

A huge percentage of Shorts are watched with the sound off, making on-screen captions non-negotiable. Manually typing them out is a nightmare. Tools like CapCut and Descript use AI to automatically transcribe your audio and generate animated, word-by-word captions that are popular in short-form content. You can customize the font, colors, and animations to match your brand's aesthetic. This simple step can dramatically increase your video’s watch time and engagement.

Smart Editing Features

Modern editors use AI to simplify common editing tasks:

• Silence Removal: Tools like Descript can automatically find and remove awkward pauses or silences from your voiceover, tightening your pacing and making the final video more engaging.
• Auto Reframe: If you're repurposing a horizontal video, a feature like CapCut’s Auto Reframe uses AI to intelligently track the main subject and crop the video to the 9:16 vertical format for you.
• AI Background Music: Finding the right royalty-free music is challenging. AI music generators like Soundraw let you pick a mood, genre, and duration, then create a unique track for your video from scratch.

Putting It All Together: A Start-to-Finish AI Workflow

Let's map out a complete workflow for creating a YouTube Short from scratch using only AI tools.

1. Ideation: Go to ChatGPT. Prompt: "Give me 5 YouTube Short ideas about time-saving hacks for remote workers."
2. Scripting: Pick your favorite idea. Prompt: "Write me a 45-second script for a Short titled 'The 2-Minute Rule to End Procrastination.' Make it fast-paced and punchy."
3. Video & Voice Generation: Copy the final script and paste it into InVideo AI or Pictory. Choose an energetic AI voice for the narration. Let the AI generate a video from stock clips matching the script.
4. Final Polish: Export the video and import it into CapCut. Use the Auto Captions feature to add dynamic, word-by-word text on screen. Adjust colors and timing.
5. Music: Browse the YouTube Shorts audio library on your phone and add a trending sound to give your video an extra boost in the algorithm.
6. Title & Description: Use ChatGPT again to brainstorm five potential titles and a brief, keyword-rich description for your video.

By following this process, you’ve taken what could be a multi-hour project and condensed it into less than 30 minutes. You can now batch-create a week's worth of content in a single afternoon.

Final Thoughts

Leveraging AI for YouTube Shorts isn't about removing your creativity, it's about amplifying it. These tools handle the repetitive lifting, giving you back precious time and energy to focus on strategy, growing your community, and coming up with bigger and better content ideas.

Once you've batch-created your awesome videos, the final step is getting them online consistently. For that next step, we built Postbase to make scheduling your YouTube Shorts, Reels, and TikToks from one spot actually work. Since our platform was designed specifically for short-form video, you can upload once, customize an opening comment or caption for each platform, and trust that it will go live reliably, every time.