Instagram Adds an AI Assistant to Explain Reels Performance and Suggest New Ideas

Instagram creators are getting a new way to ask why a video worked—and what to make next. The company is rolling out a conversational AI assistant inside Edits, its video-editing app, to U.S. users. The change puts personalized performance analysis and content suggestions alongside the tools they use to edit.

The assistant’s starting point is a creator’s Instagram activity, rather than a request for general posting advice. Brett Westervelt, who leads Edits, says it combines account metrics with comments, Instagram trends and audience interests. Those metrics include follows, views, likes and shares, plus video retention—how long viewers keep watching.

Westervelt says the assistant can identify patterns in performance over time and surface useful insights that are difficult to spot in the numbers alone. That is the company’s stated value: moving from a collection of measurements to an explanation a creator can act on.

Digital Trends describes several ways creators can use the assistant’s analysis to develop their next post:

• Compare results: Ask why one Reel performed better than another, or what connected with the audience.
• Develop the next post: Request concepts, opening hooks, captions, scripts or trending audio suggestions that fit the creator’s content style.
• Refine an approach: Examine how different trial Reels perform and use that feedback to adjust content for followers.

One thing we heard consistently: creators want a tool that handles the analysis, not one that does the creative work for them.

Brett Westervelt, Edits app lead, quoted by TechCrunch

Edits developed the assistant with input from a group of creators. It does not make Reels; the app already has a separate feature for that job. Its existing First Draft tool can automatically turn uploaded clips into a Reel.

The rollout follows a June preview at an invite-only creator event.

The assistant is free to use, with a daily prompt limit. More usage is tied to a Meta One subscription, though the timing is unclear: TechCrunch describes it as something creators can unlock, while Digital Trends says Meta plans to offer it eventually.