Apollo economist: AI has delivered zero financial payoff to most companies

Summary

Apollo Global Management’s Chief Economist Torsten Slok argues that AI has provided 'zero financial return' to non-tech companies in the US. Slok bases this claim on the flat trends in profit margins and revenue per employee within the S&P 493 index (the S&P 500 excluding the seven largest tech firms).

Why it matters

While companies are pouring billions of dollars into AI adoption, there is no measurable increase in margins or productivity across the broader economy. This challenges the widespread narrative that AI is an immediate economic multiplier. Slok’s core argument is that value in business is built on judgment, trust, and accountability rather than raw computing power. This perspective offers a useful counterbalance to hype-driven investment theses and forces a more honest discussion about where AI actually creates value.

Highlights

• The 'S&P 493' metric isolates non-tech performance by excluding Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.
• Slok: 'AI may be a great calculator, but in business, intelligence largely means judgment.'
• Slok argues that AI fails to understand the trade-offs in accountability, trust, culture, and ethics that ultimately determine revenue and margins.

Critical take

The article relies on a single economist’s note and a single composite index. There is no independent data, peer review, or discussion of adoption timelines. Consequently, the 'zero return' claim reads less like a structural indictment and more like a snapshot of an early stage. This nuance, which the article never questions, is the analysis’s weak point.