AI startup Moments Lab bypasses data wranglers and interns, raises $24M to automate film editing

Moments Lab, a French AI video startup, has raised $24 million in Series B funding to develop AI tools that automate film editing and production workflows. The company’s technology threatens to eliminate entry-level creative jobs while prioritizing revenue generation over artistic integrity, reflecting broader concerns about AI’s impact on the entertainment industry.

What you should know: Moments Lab’s core product, MXT-2, functions as an AI film librarian that automatically categorizes footage by subject, actor, and location—tasks traditionally performed by data wranglers and assistant editors.

• The company has raised over $37 million total, with the latest funding aimed at developing an “agentic AI tool” that would create rough cuts from uncut footage based on text prompts.
• If successful, the technology would reduce video editors to “AI cleanup duty,” fundamentally changing their role in the production process.

The big picture: AI-generated content is rapidly infiltrating the entertainment industry, prompting an international coalition of animator unions to declare an industry-wide emergency over generative AI.

• The technology is already “choking the internet” with low-quality content, from bizarre children’s videos to political engagement bait.
• While human-created films will continue to exist, AI tools like Moments Lab’s could significantly impact advertising, television, and broadcast production.

What they’re saying: Company leadership openly acknowledges that profit, not creative enhancement, drives their mission.

• “It’s a way to create new revenue streams,” said Philippe Petitpont, co-founder of Moments Lab. “Before now, it was very complicated for production companies to create a revenue stream because there was a huge need for humans — it’s a very tedious task.”
• Regarding job displacement, Petitpont admitted uncertainty: “The big question is: Will the assistant start to be the senior editor, or will the job disappear? We don’t know yet.”

Why this matters: The startup’s approach exemplifies how AI companies are targeting creative industries with tools that may degrade film labor by suppressing wages and increasing demands on human workers.

• One media client already expects to reduce their editing staff as a result of implementing the technology.
• The development highlights the tension between technological efficiency and preserving meaningful creative work in an industry built on human artistry.

Technical challenges: AI agents remain “notoriously buggy” and difficult to scale, making Moments Lab’s ambitious promises uncertain.

• The company’s success depends on overcoming significant technical hurdles that have challenged other AI developers.
• Even if the technology doesn’t achieve widespread adoption, its existence could still pressure wages and working conditions across the industry.