AI is everywhere except in the data, suggesting it will enhance labor in some sectors rather than replace workers in all sectors, top economist says

Despite hopes for unlocking a new era soaring growth and abundance, AI has yet to manifest itself clearly in macro data, according to Apollo Chief Economic Torsten Slok.

In a note on Saturday, he recalled economist Robert Solow’s quip from the 1980s as PCs were transforming the economy: “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.”

The same thing can be said today about AI, Slok wrote, noting that data on employment, productivity and inflation are still not showing signs of the new technology. Profit margins and earnings forecasts for S&P 500 companies outside of the “Magnificent 7” also lack evidence of AI at work.

“AI is everywhere except in the incoming macroeconomic data,” he said.

To be sure, investors are not waiting for AI to upend business models, and their fears have laid waste to the stock market recently.

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