A top economist says companies outside big tech are not seeing money gains from AI yet. Here is the claim, the numbers behind it, and what it means.
Is AI Paying Off? One Big Investor Says Not Outside Tech
Companies are spending huge amounts of money on AI. But are they earning that money back? One well-known economist says the answer, so far, is no, at least outside the tech world.
Who Said It?
CNBC reports that Torsten Slok, the chief economist at the investment firm Apollo, said AI has produced “zero financial payoff” outside tech. He also said there are no signs that AI is boosting productivity growth. Productivity means how much work gets done in a certain amount of time.
What Is the “S&P 493”?
The S&P 500 is a list of 500 of the biggest companies in the United States. Seven of them, often called the “Magnificent 7,” are giant tech companies. The other 493 include banks, stores, factories, and more. Slok wrote that “the AI story will be decided in the S&P 493,” according to CNBC.
In a note on its website, Apollo points to flat revenue per worker and flat profit margins among those 493 companies. The biggest tech companies, on the other hand, have seen gains, according to The Neuron’s summary of the note.
Why Are Companies Pulling Back?
CNBC says Slok wrote that corporate America is starting to see spending on AI “tokens” as a cost that weighs on profits. Tokens are the small chunks of text an AI reads and writes, and companies often pay by the token. A profit margin is how much of every dollar a company earns that it gets to keep.
Is There Another Side?
Yes. The AI companies themselves are earning more. In the same CNBC report, Anthropic’s revenue for the first half of 2026 was far higher than a year earlier, and AI-related stocks rose. The big question is whether other businesses will see the same gains, or whether the money mostly stays with the companies selling AI.
One economist’s view is not the final word, and AI tools are still new. But it is a useful reminder that big spending does not always mean big results right away.
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