How to create reels using AI

Use AI for the slow parts: ideas, hooks, scripts, captions and the first cut. Film real moments on your phone, edit in an app such as Edits by Instagram, which has captions, a teleprompter and templates, and keep AI-generated footage to short extras. Watch it through yourself before posting.

Where AI fits in a reel

A good business reel is short, real and clear. AI will not film your work for you, but it can take most of the friction out of everything around the filming.

Step by step

1. 1Ask for ideasTell an AI assistant what you sell and who buys it, and ask for ten reel ideas based on questions customers ask.
2. 2Write three hooksAsk for three opening lines for your chosen idea. Pick the one that gets to the point fastest, then put it in your own words.
3. 3Read it from a teleprompterEdits by Instagram has a built-in teleprompter, so you can talk to camera without memorising.
4. 4Film real clipsSeveral short clips of the work, the product or the place. Natural light, steady phone.
5. 5Edit with templatesEdits and Instagram both offer templates. In Instagram, a template needs music and at least three clips.
6. 6Add captionsEdits can add captions to your video. Check every word, especially names, prices and places.
7. 7Write the post captionAsk AI for a draft that includes what the reel is about and where you are, then edit it.

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AI-generated footage: use sparingly

Edits includes AI photo animation and green screen, and tools such as Gemini can generate short video clips. These are handy for a playful opener or a background. They are not a substitute for showing your real work. Meta asks people to disclose photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was created or altered digitally, and labels detected AI content with "AI info".

Keep what works

• Keep reels under three minutes. Instagram says longer reels are not recommended to new audiences.
• Post original footage. Instagram is less likely to recommend reposts or reels with another app's watermark.
• Edits exports without a watermark, which avoids that problem.
• Check insights after a day or two and make more of what people watched to the end.

Frequently asked questions