AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says

Chief economist at Apollo Global Management, Torsten Slok, argues that artificial intelligence has not provided a financial boost to most American companies beyond the tech sector. Examining the S&P 493, which excludes leading tech firms Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, Slok found that profit margins and revenue per employee remain unchanged, indicating that AI has not enhanced productivity.

Despite significant investments and significant hype surrounding AI, Slok asserts that the technology has yielded "zero financial payoff" for these non-tech corporations. Slok contends that the challenge for non-tech businesses lies in transforming cheap intelligence into greater revenue growth and higher profit margins. He suggests that AI, while a powerful analytical tool, lacks essential human qualities such as judgment, accountability, trust, culture, unwritten rules, ethical trade-offs, fairness, and reputation management—all of which significantly impact revenue growth and profit margins.

Recent research also indicates that AI has failed to generate substantial productivity improvements.