Apollo's chief economist: AI hasn't delivered any financial payoff to companies outside the Magnificent Seven

Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, wrote on October 24 that despite massive investments in AI, companies outside the so-called Magnificent Seven have so far seen zero financial payoff from it. At the seven tech giants, revenue per worker and profit margins are rising, while at the other 493 companies in the S&P 500 they are flat. As a result, Slok writes, mainstream American companies are starting to pull back on token spending, meaning what they pay to use AI models, and to see it as a cost that weighs on margins rather than a source of growth.