Massive capital investments and unrelenting excitement surrounding artificial intelligence have failed to generate tangible financial returns for major corporations outside the technology sector. A research assessment released by Torsten Slok, the chief economist at private equity firm Apollo Global Management, indicates that corporate bottom lines across broader commercial sectors remain completely unmoved by the deployment of artificial intelligence tools.
Flat Productivity Across the Broader S&P 493
To evaluate the real-world impact of the technology on everyday business operations, Slok examined what he designated as the S&P 493, which represents the entire S&P 500 basket after excluding the seven dominant technology giants: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The performance metrics across this vast group of non-tech enterprises revealed that both profit margins and revenue per worker have remained essentially flat, providing no empirical evidence that automation tools are driving measurable gains in organizational productivity.
Slok observed that despite extensive financial commitments and enterprise-wide adoption initiatives, the software has yielded zero financial payoff for corporate America outside the specialized technology realm. Furthermore, he expressed deep skepticism that traditional industries will find it easy to translate increasingly cheap computing intelligence into sustained revenue expansion and improved corporate earnings.
The Critical Gap Between Computation and Business Judgment
Explaining why corporate balance sheets have not responded to the new technology, Slok pointed to the fundamental difference between automated calculation and organizational leadership. He stressed that while artificial intelligence can serve as an exceptional calculator, real-world business acumen relies almost entirely on human judgment.
Slok emphasized that algorithmic systems lack any comprehension of core business foundations such as accountability, mutual trust, organizational culture, unwritten workplace codes, ethical trade-offs, and fundamental fairness. Because these complex interpersonal factors directly govern corporate reputational risk and ultimately steer top-line revenue and bottom-line margins, software alone cannot replace executive discernment. Independent studies have similarly corroborated that broad workplace implementations of artificial intelligence have yet to unlock significant productivity leaps.
