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Apollo economist says AI shows no profit lift outside tech
TechCrunch reports Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok said profit margins and revenue per worker look flat for the S&P 500 excluding seven large tech firms, arguing AI has not yet paid off outside that group.
- New headline Was: “AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says”
- Our desk filed its story
- New headline Was: “AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, according to Apollo economist”
Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok said in a recent note that artificial intelligence has not improved the financial results of large U.S. companies outside the technology sector, TechCrunch reported Sunday1.
Slok focused on what he calls the S&P 493 — the S&P 500 minus Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — and said profit margins and revenue per worker for that group appear flat, with no evidence that AI is raising productivity1.
"AI may be a great calculator, but in business, intelligence is mostly judgment," Slok wrote, according to TechCrunch1. He also argued that AI does not grasp accountability, trust, culture or ethical trade-offs that, in his view, shape reputational risk and profits1.
TechCrunch said Slok was skeptical that non-tech firms are merely lagging the giants, and that he expects it will be difficult for corporate America to convert cheaper intelligence into higher revenue growth and profit margins1. The outlet noted that Apollo previously owned TechCrunch and that other recent studies have also found limited productivity gains from AI1.
