**The 1.3% Hype** I don’t get asked, "So, what are you working on?" as much as I used to, as I don't attend conferences as much. Now, the most consistent opportunities to discuss my work are with immigration officers. Landing in London this week for work, I for no reason decided to be that guy (I clearly regret it). When the officer asked about the purpose of my visit, I couldn’t help but mention that I work on Gemini. I was hoping for a spark of recognition, maybe a question about how it compares to ChatGPT or a comment on how it's his new favorite model. "Purpose of your visit?" the officer asked. "I'm here for work" I said, then paused. "I do research and help build Gemini." I waited for the spark. I waited more. But he just stared at his screen as if I’d told him I manage a mid-sized towel company or something. I tried to bridge the gap. "Are you a ChatGPT person?" I asked, as if it were some kind of personality test. He hesitated, searching for the word. "I don't know," he said with visible effort. "Is that some kind of AI thing? I'm an Apple guy, sorry." I smiled, took my passport, and walked into the London rain. It was a win. I didn’t tell him that being an "Apple guy" in 2026 means he’s likely using Gemini models every time he uses Apple Intelligence. --- If you spend your day in a research lab or on tech Twitter, you’d think the "death of coding" or the latest AGI milestone is the only thing the planet is talking about. We make a massive fuss about how these models are "changing everything." But the data (and life!) tells a different story. According to the United Nations’ ILO 2026 report, there are roughly 3.6 billion people in the global workforce. Meanwhile, there are only about 47 million software developers on Earth (link). That means the entire "coding revolution" is currently limited to about 1.3% of the world's workers. While we debate whether a model can pass a coding benchmark, and how subagents can code an entire thing in a day, the other 98.7% of the workforce could't care less. For billions of people in healthcare, construction, and agriculture, this "magic" doesn't even exist in their vocabulary. Per the ITU, 2.2 billion people remain offline entirely. They aren't worried about AGI; they are waiting for basic connectivity. We’ve built a high-tech echo chamber long time ago. We optimize for the 1% because that’s where the noise is. We focus on making the best coder 10x faster, rather than making the every professional 10% more capable. If we only build for the people who already know how to prompt, we haven't revolutionized anything—we’ve just renovated the room we’re already sitting in. A technology doesn't truly change the world when famous tech people think it’s "finally" magic. it changes the world when the professions that weren't "invited to the party" finally find a genuine reason to build their environment around it. The true measure of our progress isn't found on a leaderboard (and definitely not on social media). It's found in who we finally get to bring into the fold. Real progress is about who we include, not what we optimize.