Apollo Economist Says AI Has Delivered "Zero Financial Payoff" to Corporate America Outside Tech

Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, wrote in a note that AI "has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech." He looked at the "S&P 493", the S&P 500 without Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla.

In that group, profit margins and revenue per worker appear flat, and Slok sees no evidence that AI is raising productivity. He doubts that non-tech firms can turn cheaper AI into higher revenue and margins.

Slok argued that "AI may be a great calculator, but in business, intelligence is mostly judgment," adding that AI does not understand accountability, trust, culture, unwritten rules or fairness. Recent studies have likewise found little significant productivity gain so far.