Amid the warm Manila breeze, in a university hall buzzing with intellect, Joseph Plazo drew a bold line on what technology can realistically offer for the world of investing—and why that distinction matters now more than ever.
The air was charged with anticipation. Young scholars—some clutching notebooks, others broadcasting to friends across Asia—waited for a man both celebrated and controversial in AI circles.
“Algorithms can execute,” Plazo began, calm but direct. “It won’t tell you when not to trust them.”
Over the next sixty minutes, he took the audience from Silicon Valley to Shanghai, intertwining machine logic with human flaws. His central claim: Artificial intelligence is impressive—but it lacks soul.
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Top Students Meet a Tough Truth
Before him sat students and faculty from a multi-nation academic alliance, assembled under a pan-Asian finance forum.
Many expected a victory lap of AI's dominance. Instead, they got a reality check.
“There’s a growing religion around AI,” said Prof. Maria Castillo, guest faculty from Europe. “Plazo’s words were uncomfortable—but essential.”
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Why AI Still Doesn’t Get It
Plazo’s core thesis was both simple and unsettling: code can’t read between the lines.
“AI doesn’t panic—but it doesn’t anticipate,” he warned. “It finds trends, but not intentions.”
He cited examples like machine-driven funds failing to respond to COVID news, noting, “By the time the algorithms adjusted, the humans were already positioned.”
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The Astronomer Analogy
He didn’t bash the machines—he put them in their place.
“AI is the vehicle—but you decide the direction,” he said. It sees—but doesn’t think.
Students pressed him on sentiment tracking, to which Plazo acknowledged: “Sure, it can flag Reddit anomalies—but it can’t feel read more a market’s pulse.”
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A Mental Shift Among Asia’s Finest
The talk sparked introspection.
“I believed in the supremacy of code,” said Lee Min-Seo, a quant-in-training from South Korea. “Now I realize it also needs wisdom—and that’s the hard part.”
In a post-talk panel, tech mentors agreed with his sentiment. “They’ve been raised by data—but instinct,” said Dr. Raymond Tan, “is only half the story.”
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Co-Intelligence: Merging Math with Meaning
Plazo shared that his firm is building “hybrid cognition models”—AI that understands not just volatility, but motive.
“Ethics can’t be outsourced to software,” he reminded. “Judgment remains human territory.”
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An Ending That Sparked a Beginning
As Plazo exited the stage, students applauded. But more importantly, they stayed behind.
“I came for machine learning,” said a PhD candidate. “Instead, I got something more powerful—perspective.”
Perhaps, in drawing boundaries for AI, we expand our own.