Apollo Global Management says AI has zero impact on productivity

The chief economist for Apollo says “*Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech.”*

None of this should be surprising for anyone who has seen how AI slop creates as many problems as it solves. But it truly is remarkable to see this written down and analyzed by one of the biggest trillion dollar players in global private credit.

He says “*With no impact on the bottom line, mainstream corporate America is pulling back and starting to view token spending not as a source of growth but as a cost center that weighs on margins.”*

He is making the point that corporate America can get what they need from cheaper free models and that means there’s no need to spend billions on tokens to frontier labs. The cost will never be justified by the productivity gains.

He also makes the point (in a chart) that 80% of the token spend comes from VC backed companies and he calls this “*Circularity in AI token spend”.*

His other charts deliver very blunt assessments of the situation:

*“No Signs of AI Boosting Productivity Growth”*

“*No signs of profit margins going up outside the tech sector”*

*“AI spending is extremely concentrated in a small number of firms”*

I think everyone is finally catching on to the grift…

[https://www.apollo.com/wealth/insights-news/insights/daily-spark/no-signs-of-ai-payoff-outside-the-tech-sector](https://www.apollo.com/wealth/insights-news/insights/daily-spark/no-signs-of-ai-payoff-outside-the-tech-sector)

Follow-up: Fortune has also picked up this story https://fortune.com/2026/10/24/ai-core-economic-flaw-bull-case-stock-bond-trades-credit-default-swaps-data-centers/