Why 2026 Belongs to the ‘Applied AI Engineer’
Your biggest opportunity isn't building the next foundation model. It's helping real businesses use what already exists. The Applied AI Society is launching to help you do exactly that.
By Gary Sheng and Travis Oliphant
"Companies don't understand how to implement AI right now to get a competitive advantage... learn to customize a model, walk into a company, show the benefits. That is every single job that's going to be available for kids coming out of school."
Here's what's wild to us: everyone's talking about AI, but almost no one is talking about this.
There are 4.2 million unfilled AI positions globally, with only 320,000 qualified people to fill them. That talent gap is costing companies $2.8 million annually in delayed initiatives. 88% of companies say they've "adopted AI," but only 23% have actually scaled it into production.
The bottleneck is no longer innovation. It's implementation. That's why Gary is launching the Applied AI Society.
Let us explain—and if you're already convinced, here's your next step:
👉 RSVP for our January 29 launch event | Subscribe for updates
We have OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, and open-source models proliferating daily. Infrastructure that would've seemed like science fiction five years ago. What we don't have is enough people who can translate these innovations into practical utility for businesses.
That's the gap. That's your opportunity.
You Don't Need to Train Models to Matter
You don't need to work at a frontier lab. You don't need to invent the next architecture. That work is vital. But there's a different problem that needs solving: the last mile.
As an Applied AI Engineer, you become the bridge. You combine technical fluency with business acumen and people skills. You help a local bakery automate inventory with the same seriousness as a Fortune 500 deployment.
You might be:
- A software developer ready to architect AI-augmented workflows
- A data scientist pivoting from analytics to implementation
- A business analyst who's picked up enough technical skills to prototype
- A new grad who sees consulting as a path to meaningful, well-paying work
The common thread? You care about outcomes, not benchmarks.
Why Your Timing Is Perfect
2025 made one thing clear: the models and infrastructure are getting really good. The question is no longer "can AI do this?" It's "who can help organizations actually use it?"
Even Andrej Karpathy—former OpenAI researcher, former Tesla AI lead—recently wrote: "I've never felt this much behind as a programmer... Clearly some powerful alien tool was handed around except it comes with no manual and everyone has to figure out how to hold it and operate it."
If Karpathy feels behind, imagine how the average business owner feels.
Most businesses haven't even caught up to the first digital transformation. Spreadsheets where there should be databases. Manual processes where there should be automation.
Now they're facing a second transformation, and they're overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, the promises being made to them are driven by investor interest, not their success. Vendors want lock-in. Hyperscalers want dependency. The average business owner doesn't know what questions to ask.
This is where you come in.
In every city, there are thousands of businesses that need help. They need someone who speaks their language, understands their constraints, and shows them practical paths forward. This is work that can't be outsourced. A career that lets you build a life.
Why You Need a Community for This
Here's something Gary has learned from consulting businesses on applied AI—and from talking to friends doing the same: it's the wild west out there.
Best practices evolve as fast as the infrastructure. New tools drop weekly. You face decision fatigue just picking a stack, and when you have questions, you don't know who to ask.
That's why Gary is launching the Applied AI Society. He needs it. You will too.
Having a community where you can share what's working, ask dumb questions without judgment, and learn from people a few steps ahead of you—that's not a nice-to-have. It's essential. Otherwise you're alone in the wilderness, reinventing wheels that someone else already figured out.
What You'll Find Inside
The Applied AI Society is a watering hole, a basecamp, and a commons for people doing this work. Here's what's inside:
What you'll get:
- A professional network built for this industry—list your expertise, share case studies, find collaborators
- A case study library of real projects, real results, shared openly
- Events and workshops with live architecture sessions and actual business owners
- Resources that meet you where you are, whether you're learning to sell or learning to build
Who should join:
- Engineers and practitioners who help businesses apply AI
- Business owners who need to know what questions to ask
- Tool builders who want feedback from people actually shipping
What we believe:
- AI should be a jetpack, not a replacement
- The gap isn't innovation—it's implementation
- Business outcomes over technology fascination
- Vendor-neutral, standards-first
- You should own your AI capabilities, not rent them
The society is being built in public using its own philosophy. Everything will be documented—where AI helped, where humans were irreplaceable. See how it's being built at docs.appliedaisociety.org
Get Started
The society is launching in Austin, but the playbook is designed to scale. If you want to start a chapter in your city, you'll have everything you need.
Attend our first event: Applied AI Live #1 — Thursday, January 29, 2026 at Antler HQ in Austin. Case studies, live architecture, and remarks from Travis Oliphant on why this matters.
Share a case study: If you've done applied AI work and want to document it, reach out.
Build with us: DM Gary Sheng on X (@garysheng) or on LinkedIn to plug in.
About the Authors
Gary Sheng — Founder, Applied AI Society. Former Google engineer, serial community builder, top graduate of Gauntlet AI's founding class. His mission: turn niche technology communities into mainstream movements and help millions find meaningful work in the AI age.
Travis Oliphant — Founding Advisor, Applied AI Society. Creator of NumPy and SciPy, founder of Anaconda and the PyData conference series, now building OpenTeams for sovereign AI deployment. His life's work: making technology accessible to the people who need it most.
The Applied AI Society is grateful to OpenTeams as the founding sponsor. They're building the infrastructure layer for applied AI—including Nebari, an open-source operating system for AI workflows that gives organizations sovereignty over their data. Their commitment to democratizing AI access is core to why the Applied AI Society exists. 🤝