Apollo Economist: AI Fails to Boost Profits or Productivity for Non-Tech Firms

Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, published a note stating that artificial intelligence has delivered zero financial payoff to companies outside the technology industry. This assessment covers major corporations that have made massive investments in AI despite widespread hype surrounding the technology.A top economist says AI is not making non-tech companies more profitable yet.Slok's analysis of the S&P 493 indicates no correlation between AI investment and improved unit economics outside tech.

The evidence

Slok focused his analysis on what he calls the S&P 493, which excludes Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla from the broader S&P 500 index. According to TechCrunch, his review found that profit margins and revenue per worker remain flat across this group.reported There is no evidence in the data that AI is currently improving productivity for these firms.

The decision

The economist argued that it will be tough for corporate America to turn increasingly cheap intelligence into higher revenue growth and higher profit margins. He stated that while AI may be a great calculator, intelligence in business is mostly judgment. This distinction suggests that technical capability alone may not translate into financial performance for traditional enterprises.

The takeaway

These human-centric factors shape reputational risk and ultimately drive revenue growth and profit margins. Recent studies have also found that AI has yet to deliver significant productivity gains.

Building on this

For enterprise IT buyers, the documented limits of AI indicate that the technology functions primarily as a calculator rather than a judgment tool. The flat revenue per worker in the S&P 493 implies that current AI implementations are not driving productivity improvements.