Apollo Chief Economist: AI Delivers Zero Financial Payoff to Corporate America Outside Tech Giants

Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, has warned that artificial intelligence has generated no measurable financial benefit to the broad corporate landscape, with gains concentrated almost exclusively within the Magnificent Seven technology firms. In a five-chart analysis published in late October 2026, Slok documented a stark divergence between the world's largest tech companies and the remaining 493 constituents of the S&P 500, finding that revenue per employee, profit margins, and total factor productivity growth remain essentially flat outside the semiconductor, cloud, and AI-focused leaders.