Where AI Fails: Lessons from Joseph Plazo:
Where AI Fails: Lessons from Joseph Plazo:
Blog Article
A Wake-Up Call from Manila’s Leading AI Strategist
While tech evangelists tout AI supremacy, a defiant voice in Manila reminds us that judgment still beats the algorithm—intuition, discipline, and story.
“AI isn’t your golden ticket. But it will make your mistakes faster.”
That was the provocative opener at his standing-room-only keynote at the University of the Philippines’ academic hall—and it landed like a thunderclap.
Before him were Asia’s brightest young minds—rising economists, AI researchers, and budding asset managers from Asia’s top universities.
Plazo—venture strategist, AI architect, and CEO of Plazo Sullivan Roche—delivered a dose of realism on what AI delivers—and fails to grasp in actual investing.
And what it still lacks, he stressed, is understand story or nuance.
### Beyond the Hype: Investing in the Age of Overpromised Intelligence
Dressed in a razor-sharp outfit, Plazo paced the stage like a courtroom litigator.
He began the teardown with a short video montage—YouTubers hawking AI bots. Then he paused.
“I engineered what they now sell as magic,” he said, deadpan.
Laughter broke out—but ego wasn’t the point.
The message? Most models replay what already happened.
“You can’t outsource principles. AI doesn’t believe in a trade—it echoes what already happened.”
“When war erupts, when Powell coughs during a Fed announcement, when a bank tumbles before markets open—AI doesn’t notice. We 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—equipped with indicators, trends, and sentiment metrics.
Plazo eyed it. Then said:
“Looks clean, but what about Japan’s unannounced intervention?. Your AI doesn’t see the invisible. It reads tweets.”
The audience murmured. 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.”**
False. AI assists—it backtests, filters, calculates—but it doesn’t replace hard-earned narrative memory.
2. **“AI Understands Fundamentals.”**
Wrong. AI decodes trends, but fails at narrative causality. It may track oil supply, but it won’t flag a coup in click here Venezuela.
3. **“AI Makes You Smarter.”**
Actually, it might weaken your edge. “AI won’t kill you—but your laziness might,” Plazo warned. “It’s in forgetting how to think without it.”
### Why Asia Paid Close Attention
This wasn’t just another keynote.
Asia’s universities are now launching the next generation of quant leaders. They’re asking: more code, or more conscience?
Plazo’s call: “Harness tech, but stay human.”
In closed-door chats at Ateneo and a roundtable at AIM, professors absorbed what they called a sobering perspective.
One finance dean remarked candidly, “Joseph might have rebooted our entire AI syllabus. Not magic—mirror.”
### The Future AI Can Build
Despite the critique, Plazo isn’t anti-AI.
He’s building hybrid neural systems—integrating macro signals and crowd psychology.
His stance? “Ride with it. Don’t abdicate to it.”
“It’s not starving for stats. 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.