The Question of AI Economics

Torsten Slok, investment firm Apollo’s Chief Economist (and a semi-regular in the radical Briefing), showed more evidence that the ROI on AI investment outside Big Tech isn’t there (yet). Revenue per worker and profit margins are climbing at the Mag 7 and flat across the other 493 companies in the S&P 500. Productivity growth shows no AI bump yet. I believe it’s down to the nature of the work (much of what these firms do doesn’t lend itself to AI-driven gains – at least not yet) and the difference between doing something as a one-off or pilot versus a reliable process running millions of times. As Slok puts it: “The bottom line is that the AI story will be decided in the S&P 493, not the Mag 7, and so far […]”