In a packed amphitheater at the University of the Philippines, tech entrepreneur and investment icon Joseph Plazo drew a bold line on what machines can and cannot do for the future of finance—and why understanding this may define who wins in tomorrow’s markets.
You could feel the electricity in the crowd. Students—some furiously taking notes, others capturing every word via livestream—waited for a man revered for blending code with contrarianism.
“AI will make trades for you,” he said with gravity. “But understanding the why—that’s still on you.”
Over the next hour, he swept across global tech frontiers, touching on everything from quantum computing to cognitive bias. His central claim: Artificial intelligence is impressive—but it lacks soul.
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The Audience: Elite, Curious—and Disarmed
Before him sat students and faculty from a multi-nation academic alliance, gathered under a technology consortium.
Many expected a praise-filled keynote of AI's dominance. Plazo had other plans.
“There’s a rising cult of algorithmic faith,” said Prof. Maria Castillo, a respected AI ethicist from the UK. “We need this kind of discomfort in academia.”
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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 AI systems freezing during the 2020 pandemic declaration, 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 telescope—but you are still the astronomer,” 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 discern hesitation in a policymaker’s tone.”
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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 finance student from Seoul. “Now I realize it also needs wisdom—and that’s the hard part.”
In a post-talk panel, faculty and entrepreneurs echoed the caution. “These kids speak machine natively—but instinct,” said Dr. Raymond Tan, “doesn’t replace perspective.”
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The Future Isn’t Autonomous—It’s Collaborative
Plazo shared that his firm is building “symbiotic systems”—AI that pairs statistical website logic with situational nuance.
“Only you can judge character,” he reminded. “Belief isn’t programmable.”
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The Speech That Started a Thousand Debates
As Plazo exited the stage, students applauded. But more importantly, they lingered.
“I came for machine learning,” said a PhD candidate. “But I got a lesson in human insight.”
Perhaps, in drawing boundaries for AI, we expand our own.