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AI / BUSINESS

AI Hasn't Paid Off Outside Tech, Says Apollo's Chief Economist. Here's How to Wire It Into Your Business

By Vic Roque · October 2026

Hey everyone, it's Vic here.

On October 24, Torsten Slok, Apollo's chief economist, published a note called "No Signs of AI Payoff Outside the Tech Sector." I want to walk the DeskWolf family through what it says, and then share how we look at it.

What Apollo said

Slok writes that AI "has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech." His charts show:

  • Revenue per worker is rising for the Mag 7 and flat for the other 493 companies in the S&P 500.
  • Profit margins are rising for the Mag 7 and flat for the S&P 493.
  • Productivity: there are "still no signs of AI boosting productivity growth." His chart uses the San Francisco Fed's utilization-adjusted total factor productivity (TFP) series.

Then he asks the question I keep thinking about: whether "mainstream corporate America can turn increasingly cheap intelligence into higher revenue growth and higher profit margins." He adds, "That may be harder than it sounds."

Slok doesn't say that missing systems are the reason, and I won't put words in his mouth.

DeskWolf's take (our opinion)

Here's how we see it at DeskWolf: AI pays off when it's wired into how the business runs. A smart tool sitting next to a messy process doesn't have much to work with. A clear process gives it something to run.

For a coach who sells transformations, or an owner with an established business, "wired" looks like this:

  • One clear offer people can understand in a sentence.
  • A funnel that captures leads, like a High Ticket Funnel that moves people from first click to booked call.
  • A follow-up system so no lead sits waiting.
  • Written SOPs AI can run, so the steps live on paper and not just in your head.
  • One source of truth for client data, so everything isn't scattered across five apps.
Hands sorting paperwork next to a laptop

4 steps to start

  1. Write your offer in one sentence. Who it's for and what changes for them.
  2. Map how a lead becomes a client. Every step, from first click to paid.
  3. Turn one repeat task into an SOP. Write it down the way you'd train a new hire.
  4. Let AI run that one step, and track it. Watch the hours or dollars for 30 days, then decide what to wire in next.

You don't need the newest model to do this. You need the business set up so AI has something real to run.

Sources

Stay tuned.

— Vic