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 bold voice in Manila issues a sharp reminder that judgment still beats the algorithm—conscience, context, and conviction.
“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 hundreds of future fund managers and technologists—rising economists, AI researchers, and budding asset managers from Asia’s top universities.
Plazo—venture strategist, AI architect, and CEO of Plazo Sullivan Roche—unveiled a truth-filled lecture on what AI can and can’t do 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 started boldly 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 feel in a trade—it echoes what already happened.”
“When war erupts, when Powell slips during a Fed announcement, when a bank goes under—AI doesn’t flinch. That’s where we come in.”
### The Students Who Challenged Him—and Got Schooled
One unforgettable moment? A battle of brains and bots.
A student from NUS presented an AI-backed trade on the Nikkei—technically solid, sentiment-scanned, and data-rich.
Plazo studied it. Then said:
“Solid—but blind to central bank footprints. Your AI doesn’t read motive. It scans headlines.”
The audience leaned in. The student grinned. 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. Faster chips won’t purge panic from data. Train an AI on fear, and it’ll become panic on steroids.”
### The Three Myths Plazo Shattered in 45 Minutes
1. **“AI Will Replace Portfolio Managers.”**
Not quite. AI supports—it crunches, optimizes, and speeds up decisions—but it doesn’t replace gut instinct.
2. **“AI Understands Fundamentals.”**
Wrong. more info AI reads tables, but can’t see through diplomatic posturing. It may model interest rates, but it can’t predict a Strait of Hormuz conflict.
3. **“AI Makes You Smarter.”**
Actually, it might make you duller. “The real risk isn’t AI itself,” Plazo warned. “It’s deskilling ourselves at scale.”
### Why Asia Paid Close Attention
This wasn’t a TED-style pep talk.
Asia’s universities are now launching the next generation of quant leaders. They’re asking: more code, or more conscience?
Plazo’s call: “Code, but think critically.”
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 can’t be coded.”
The applause echoed across campuses. And that jolt of insight is still shaking up syllabi in Asia’s elite universities.
In a world drunk on AI hype, he delivered the one thing no model ever could—wisdom.