Apollo Economist Says S&P 493 Gets Zero AI Payoff as Profit Margins Stay Flat
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Oct 25
Apollo Economist Says S&P 493 Gets Zero AI Payoff as Profit Margins Stay Flat
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Oct 25
Summary
Torsten Slok said AI has delivered “zero financial payoff” to corporate America outside tech, pointing to the S&P 493—S&P 500 companies excluding seven major tech names.
Profit margins and revenue per worker across that group appear flat, he wrote, with no evidence AI is lifting productivity despite heavy corporate spending and broad adoption hype.
Slok argued the problem may be structural rather than a timing lag, saying companies will struggle to turn increasingly cheap intelligence into faster revenue growth and wider margins.
He said business performance still depends on judgment, accountability, trust and culture—areas where AI falls short—echoing recent studies that also found limited productivity gains.