In a recent analysis, Torsten Sløk, Chief Economist at Apollo Global Management, noted: “Despite substantial investments and extensive marketing by companies in the field of artificial intelligence, this technology has yet to deliver any financial returns for U.S. firms outside the tech sector.”
Sloke focuses on the so‑called ‘S&P 493’—the 493 companies remaining in the S&P 500 after excluding Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. Data show that this group’s profit margins and revenue per employee have remained flat, with no evidence of AI‑driven productivity gains.
He further questioned whether non‑tech companies can translate increasingly affordable AI capabilities into higher revenue growth and profit margins, emphasizing: “AI may be an excellent calculator, but intelligence in business is primarily about judgment. AI does not grasp accountability, trust, culture, unwritten rules, ethical trade-offs, or fairness—factors that shape reputational risk and ultimately determine revenue growth and profit margins.”
The report also notes that several recent studies have reached similar conclusions: AI has yet to deliver a significant boost in productivity. The original article was published on October 25, 2026, at 16:57:32 UTC (October 26 in Singapore time), and its source is the official TechCrunch website.