Samsung's new My FanCam feature uses Galaxy AI to identify and track individual people in video you've already recorded, then reframes the footage around whichever person you select — normalizing AI-powered person-tracking as a consumer editing tool.
Why it matters: The same AI that can follow your kid across a soccer field can follow anyone. Samsung is packaging surveillance-capable technology as empowerment, and the public is supposed to applaud because the demo involves school plays.
Here's how it works, according to Engadget: My FanCam lives in Samsung's Gallery editing tools on devices running One UI 9. You record a wide-shot video with multiple people moving through the frame. Afterward, you tap the Galaxy AI icon, select My FanCam, and wait for the system to identify the people present. You pick your subject, choose an aspect ratio, and the AI creates a new clip that tracks that person throughout the footage.
Samsung currently demonstrates the feature on the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, both launched with One UI 9. The feature may not reach all Galaxy devices even if they receive the software update — Samsung says individual AI features can vary by device, language, and region.
Engadget framed the feature entirely around convenience: imagine recording a school performance or soccer game without constantly panning to keep one person centered. The outlet noted the limitations honestly — My FanCam can't recover parts of a scene never recorded, doesn't guarantee tracking accuracy, and won't work when it can't find a subject. But the framing was pure product guide: here's a neat tool, here's how to use it, here's what to keep in mind.
What Engadget buried: the underlying technology. Galaxy AI is identifying individual human beings in video and tracking their movement across frames. That is the capability that matters, not the aspect ratio options. The difference between My FanCam and Samsung's existing Auto Framing feature is revealing — Auto Framing adjusts composition while you record, but My FanCam does its work afterward, meaning the AI is parsing stored video to locate and follow specific persons. This is identification and tracking, full stop. Today you choose the subject. Tomorrow the question is who else can.
Samsung's own caveat about tracking accuracy and device-by-device availability suggests the system is still maturing. That means the identification capability will only improve. The company that sells you the phone, harvests your usage data, and controls the AI pipeline now wants you to generate footage where individuals are tagged and tracked by default — and to think of it as creative freedom.
The second source provided for this story covered an entirely unrelated Scottish football transfer and contained no information relevant to Samsung, AI, or surveillance.
The open question isn't whether My FanCam works as advertised. It's what becomes of a population trained to see AI person-tracking as a feature rather than a capability — and who gets to use it on footage they didn't record.
