AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says
In Brief Posted: 9:57 AM PDT · October 25, 2026 Image Credits:Carol Yepes (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Anthony Ha AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says AI hasn’t benefited the bottom line of any big corporations outside the tech industry, according…
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In Brief Posted: 9:57 AM PDT · October 25, 2026 Image Credits:Carol Yepes (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Anthony Ha AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says AI hasn’t benefited the bottom line of any big corporations outside the tech industry, according to a note recently published by the chief economist at Apollo Global Management (the private equity giant that used to own TechCrunch). Apollo’s Torsten Slok focuses on what he calls the S&P 493 — the S&P 500, minus Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — finding that profit margins and revenue per worker appear to be flat, with no evidence that AI is improving productivity. “Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech,” Slok said. Is this simply a matter of non-tech companies lagging behind the tech giants? Slok sounded skeptical, arguing that it will be tough for corporate America to “turn increasingly cheap intelligence into higher revenue growth and higher profit margins.” “AI may be a great calculator, but in business, intelligence is mostly judgment,” he wrote, later adding, “AI does not understand accountability, trust, culture, unwritten rules, ethical trade-offs or fairness, all of which shape reputational risk and ultimately drive revenue growth and profit margins.” Recent studies have also found that AI has yet to deliver significant productivity gains. Topics AI, Apollo Global Management November 4 Boston Buy One Pass, Get a Second FreeCover more ground at TechCrunch’s ultimate founder bootcamp of the year by bringing your co-founder or partner for freeBook before the BOGO deal expires Register Now Newsletters See More Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news Related Media & Entertainment Grok releases the first seven minutes of its AI-generated ‘Odyssey’ Anthony Ha 8 hours ago Security Will AI expose the rickety infrastructure of the internet? Anthony Ha 1 day ago AI Block’s new voice model sounds eerily human Ivan Mehta 2 days ago Latest in AI Media & Entertainment Grok releases the first seven minutes of its AI-generated ‘Odyssey’ Anthony Ha 8 hours ago In Brief AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says Anthony Ha 13 hours ago AI The hottest AI wearables and gadgets you should know about Lauren Forristal 16 hours ago