Apollo’s Zito Says Too Much AI Spending Is for ‘Low IQ’ Tasks

Apollo Global Management’s John Zito said too many companies are deploying artificial intelligence tools for relatively mundane tasks that don’t justify the significant costs and computing power.

“Our IQs are so low that we’re actually using” AI tools “to check out the recipe for, you know, French toast,” said Zito, co-president of Apollo Asset Management. “That’s where you’re seeing the prices go up.”

Only “a handful” of people have the ability — and the need — to use the most cutting-edge AI tools, he said. Referring to Anthropic PBC’s latest Claude AI model, he joked that his own IQ is “not high enough to be able to use what Mythos 2 will be powerful enough to do.”

The difference in the kinds of tasks being directed to various AI tools and agents will create a new economy for the sector, he said. “The AMD chip, the Nvidia chip, all these different chips will be used and optimized for a certain use-case to solve the spend problem,” he said, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Financial Services Conference.

For firms like Citadel Securities, Jane Street and other companies that have highly complex quantum computing needs, investing in the most sophisticated tools will be “really expensive, but the ROI is going to be massive.”

Uber Technologies Inc. recently set usage limits on some of the tools for its staff, after it blew through its AI budget earlier this year. Earlier this month Walmart also restricted employee usage of an in-house AI agent that helps with spreadsheets, presentations and other professional tasks.