apollo’s chief economist just said AI has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate america outside of tech torsten slok, who runs economics at one of the world’s biggest private equity firms, looked at the S&P 500 minus the seven big tech companies, what he calls the S&P 493, and found profit margins and revenue per worker are flat. no AI lift in productivity at all the contrast is stark. revenue per employee at the Mag 7 climbed from $550,000 to almost $800,000 since 2022. the other 493 are basically unchanged “mainstream corporate America does not need the latest model and is unwilling to pay for it.” companies are starting to treat token spending as a cost center, not a growth driver and his most interesting point: “the AI story will be decided in the S&P 493, not the Mag 7” because everyone already knows AI is working for google, microsoft and nvidia. the question is whether the hospital chain, the insurance company, the retailer, and the manufacturer actually see returns on what they’re spending so far the answer is no