Yes there are some pretty cool things she described. Finding significant scene transitions, doing audio transcription, etc. can help enhance the project. But I take issue with this statement: "You can only watch old family friends open Christmas gifts so many times"
I've now digitized probably over 50 VHS tapes with more to go. What's particularly striking to me is how old cameras were used. They were used for long continuous captures because they weren't "on you," were ergonomically suited towards it, had no expectation of sharing/editing, and were such a hassle to pull it out you really had to want to use it. That means that unlike today, you might get 30 minutes straight of that "opening of Christmas gifts" and the banal conversation that follows. It really is a snapshot in time who's length lets you fully appreciate the era and the people, along with their essence and personalities.
I'm guessing that most people in the author's life are still alive. She's young enough to not be as sentimental. But as you get older and many important people pass, watching the entirety of this archive is of great value. It's almost like the people in them are still alive by capturing the plainness of the moments instead of just the exceptional.
I wonder if she digitized all those hours at once, or had a service do it for her. If so, then receiving such a large chunk might feel daunting. I've written my own software to automate this with a high end VHS player, but the captures still occur in real-time. It's been my quarantine project. And as such, I've watched far more of this archive than I originally ever thought I would because of the forced serial nature. Each tape brings its own bag of wonderful surprises. And my family couldn't be any more appreciative... everyone watches nearly every video as I send them out, and then shares comments back by email. It's been an amazing gift to my entire family from the past.
I wonder what she plans to use all that machine learning for in the end. Is she really going to be searching for such moments on a frequent basis? I'm guessing not. To me it's not a search problem -- it's a long discovery process about how your own life has unfolded and changed over time.