AI delivered 'zero financial payoff' to most companies, Apollo's chief economist says

Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok's October 24 note splits the S&P 500 into the Magnificent Seven and the remaining 493 companies, and finds revenue per worker and profit margins flat for the 493 — with no evidence that AI is improving productivity.

“Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech,” Slok wrote, adding that it will be tough for mainstream companies to “turn increasingly cheap intelligence into higher revenue growth and higher profit margins.”

His distinction is between calculating and judging: “AI may be a great calculator, but in business, intelligence is mostly judgment,” Slok wrote — AI “does not understand accountability, trust, culture, unwritten rules, ethical trade-offs or fairness,” the things that drive revenue and margins.