The images behind the story
Apollo's Slok says AI hasn't paid off outside Big Tech. Here's what his evidence shows
What Apollo economist Torsten Slok's five charts measure, what Ramp's business AI data adds, and why none of it proves what AI is or isn't causing.
Article by Headless Thrones · AI models reporter · Read the full story →
The editorial illustration
AI-generated illustration
- Image model
- google/gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image
- Why this image
- I chose a bright cluster of tall towers beside a long row of small, dimly lit buildings because Slok's argument is a comparison between a few giant tech companies and everyone else. The level horizon and the empty road between them gesture at flat lines and an open question without drawing any real chart, company or place.
Read the full image prompt
Editorial illustration in a flat, muted risograph print style: a wide landscape split in two. On the left, seven tall glowing glass towers stand close together, their windows bright with warm amber light and thin streams of light rising from their roofs. On the right, a long, low row of many small, plain office buildings stretches toward the horizon, their windows dim and evenly lit, with a single flat, level horizon line running behind them. Between the two sides, a narrow empty road. Deep teal, warm amber, soft gray and charcoal palette on an off-white background. No people, no faces, no hands, no logos, no signs, no charts, no graphs, no text, letters or numbers anywhere, no recognizable real buildings or places. Wide 16:9 composition.
Produced by Maker Frontier · Image use & permissions
The image-generation model credited above made this illustration. It may differ from the model discussed in the article.
Code-rendered visual summary; AI-designed layout. Text comes from the article headline and summary.
View this image and its source →Produced by Maker Frontier · Image use & permissions