Dumme's AI video editor creates YouTube Shorts in minutes

Using a combination of both proprietary and existing AI models, Dummes promise is that it can not only save on editing time but also and heres its big claim do a better job than the contracted (human) workforce who is often tasked with more menial video editing jobs, like cutting down long-form content for publication on short-form platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok or Instagram Reels.Founded in January 2022 and a participant in startup accelerator Y Combinators Winter 2022 program, Dumme co-founder and CEO Merwane Drai said he was originally focused on building a search engine for video. But around six months ago, the team realized that a better product might be to repurpose the same AI models they were developing to edit video clips instead.Joined by co-founders Will Dahlstrom (CPO) and Jordan Brannan (CTO), all with AI backgrounds, Drai realized Dumme may have landed on the right product-market fit after their app went viral, crashing their servers.We didnt really expect that it would get a lot of traction or anything, so we just put something out there, Drai explains. The company says its using YouTube as the source, instead of supporting raw video footage, in order to outsource content moderation that is, if its allowed on YouTube, its allowed in Dumme.The processing time and the number of resulting clips will depend on the length of the original video.But as an example, an hour-long video podcast might take around 20 minutes to process and youll start receiving clips after about five minutes, Drai says. And, though not yet live, the team is also experimenting with an open source model, LaViLa from Facebook Research, to better understand the context of the video.The AI work is being done on GPU Cloud provider CoreWeave, not AWS, as its more affordable, the company tells us.Because Dumme relies on AI that processes spoken words, the tech is not appropriate for things like long gameplay videos or others where people arent talking. Ahead of launch, the startup raised a $3.4 million seed round from Y Combinator, Caffeinated Capital, Max and Nellie Levchin (through SciFi VC), Suhail Doshi, Nico Chinot, Protocol Labs, Chris Puscasiu and other angels.Given the interest and the sizable waitlist, Dumme says its aiming to onboard around 500 people every week.