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

Apollo Global Management's chief economist, Torsten Slok, asserts that artificial intelligence has not yielded any financial benefits for most corporations, except those in the technology sector. In a recent note, Slok examined the performance of the S&P 493, which excludes Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.

Slok found that profit margins and revenue per worker have remained stagnant, indicating that AI has not boosted productivity. The economist contends that this lack of financial gain is due to non-tech companies struggling to translate AI's low-cost intelligence into increased revenue growth and higher profit margins. Slok argues that while AI excels as a calculator, it falls short in business contexts where judgment, accountability, trust, culture, unwritten rules, ethical trade-offs, and fairness play crucial roles in shaping reputational risk and driving revenue growth.