Artificial intelligence has delivered “zero financial payoff” to corporate America outside the tech industry, according to Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management. In a note reported by TechCrunch, Slok looked at what he calls the S&P 493 — the S&P 500 minus Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — and found no evidence that AI is lifting productivity.
The finding lands as a counterweight to the wave of AI announcements from nearly every large company. Slok said profit margins and revenue per worker at those non-tech firms appear flat, despite the investments and hype surrounding artificial intelligence.
What the S&P 493 numbers show
Slok's argument rests on the gap between the seven tech giants driving the AI boom and everyone else. By stripping those companies out of the index, he isolates the businesses that buy AI tools rather than build them — and says their financial performance shows no AI dividend yet.
He is skeptical that the pattern will reverse quickly. In the note, he wrote that it will be tough for corporate America to “turn increasingly cheap intelligence into higher revenue growth and higher profit margins,” suggesting that falling AI costs do not automatically translate into better business results.
- Scope: the S&P 500 minus Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla.
- Finding: profit margins and revenue per worker appear flat.
- Verdict: no evidence that AI is improving productivity outside tech.
- Outlook: Slok doubts cheap intelligence alone will raise growth or margins.
