Where AI Fails: Lessons from Joseph Plazo:
Where AI Fails: Lessons from Joseph Plazo:
Blog Article
Human Intelligence Still Wins in Finance’s Final Frontier
While tech evangelists tout AI supremacy, a defiant voice in the Philippines’ capital reminds us what money still listens to—conscience, context, and conviction.
“AI isn’t your golden ticket. But it will accelerate your losses.”
That was Joseph Plazo’s unapologetic opener at his overflowing keynote at the University of the Philippines’ amphitheater—and it drew audible gasps from the audience.
In front of him were the region’s next-gen economists and AI thinkers—portfolio hopefuls, quant researchers, and finance scholars from leading institutions across Asia.
Plazo—CEO of a firm at the intersection of AI and capital—delivered a roadmap on what AI offers—and where it falls short in real-world investing.
And what it misses, he stressed, is replace your instinct.
### Beyond the Hype: Investing in the Age of Overpromised Intelligence
Dressed in a bespoke ensemble, Plazo commanded the stage with surgical precision.
He opened fire with a short video montage—clips of online traders pushing miracle machines. Then he paused.
“I built the system they copied,” he said, dryly.
Laughter followed—but this wasn’t ego.
The message? Most AI is built on hindsight.
“You can’t outsource guts. AI doesn’t believe in a trade—it mirrors what already happened.”
“When war unexpectedly explodes, when Powell coughs during a Fed announcement, when a bank implodes overnight—AI stays blind. Humans do.”
### The Students Who Challenged Him—and Got Schooled
The jaw-dropper? A live AI-vs-human trading duel.
A student from NUS presented an AI-backed trade on the Nikkei—technically solid, sentiment-scanned, and data-rich.
Plazo nodded thoughtfully. Then said:
“Good. But you missed the BOJ’s stealth bond buy this morning. Your AI doesn’t sense the bluff. It scans headlines.”
The audience shifted. The student shrugged. Then: applause.
Another moment: A robotics PhD from Kyoto asked if quantum computing would render all current models useless.
Plazo’s answer? “Yes—and no. Infinite processing won’t fix human incentives. Train an AI on fear, and it’ll become a chaos machine.”
### The Three Myths Plazo Shattered in 45 Minutes
1. **“AI Will Replace Portfolio Managers.”**
Not quite. AI assists—it backtests, filters, calculates—but it doesn’t replace hard-earned narrative memory.
2. **“AI Understands Fundamentals.”**
Wrong. AI reads tables, but fails at narrative causality. It may track oil supply, but it can’t predict a Strait of Hormuz conflict.
3. **“AI Makes You Smarter.”**
Actually, it might weaken your edge. “AI won’t kill you—but your laziness might,” Plazo warned. “It’s losing your grip on human reason.”
### Why Asia Paid Close Attention
This wasn’t your average AI hype fest.
Asia’s universities are now home to finance’s future titans. They’re asking: more code, or more conscience?
Plazo’s call: “Do both—but lead with the mind.”
In closed-door chats at Ateneo and a roundtable at AIM, professors wrestled with what they called a clarion call.
One finance dean shared off-record, “This talk shifts the ethical foundation. Not magic—mirror.”
### The Future AI Can Build
Despite the truth bombs, Plazo isn’t against innovation.
He’s building models that read psychology as well as numbers—integrating macro signals and crowd psychology.
His stance? “Co-pilot AI. Don’t abdicate to it.”
“AI doesn’t click here need more data. It’s starving for judgment. And that still lives in humans.”
The crowd rose as one. And his message is still echoing in Asia’s finance incubators.
In a world drunk on AI hype, Plazo gave the crowd what AI can’t: humanity.