In a packed amphitheater at the University of the Philippines, renowned AI investor Joseph Plazo laid down the gauntlet on what AI can and cannot achieve for the future of finance—and why understanding this may define who wins in tomorrow’s markets.

Tension and curiosity pulsed through the room. A sea of bright minds—some eagerly recording on their phones, 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, 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 leading institutions like Kyoto, NUS, and HKUST, united by a shared fascination with finance and AI.

Many expected a celebration of AI's dominance. What they received was a provocation.

“There’s too much blind trust in code,” said Prof. Maria Castillo, an Oxford visiting fellow. “This lecture was a rare, necessary dose of skepticism.”

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When Algorithms Miss the Mark

Plazo’s core thesis was both simple and unsettling: machines lack context.

“AI is fearless, but also clueless,” he warned. “It detects movements, but misses motives.”

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 feel 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,” more info said Lee Min-Seo, a quant-in-training from South Korea. “Turns out, insight can’t be uploaded.”

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. “But I got a lesson in human insight.”

And maybe that’s the real power of AI’s limits: they force us to rediscover our own.