In a packed amphitheater at the University of the Philippines, Joseph Plazo laid down the gauntlet on what technology can realistically offer for the economic frontier—and why this difference is increasingly crucial.
Tension and curiosity pulsed through the room. Students—some eagerly recording on their phones, others streaming the moment live—waited for a man revered for blending code with contrarianism.
“Machines will execute trades flawlessly,” 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. “Plazo’s words were uncomfortable—but essential.”
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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 machine-driven funds failing to respond to COVID news, noting, “AI lagged—while humans had already hedged.”
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Reclaiming the Edge: Why Humans Still Matter
Plazo didn’t argue against AI—but for boundaries.
“AI is the vehicle—but you decide the direction,” he said. It analyzes—but lacks awareness.
Students pressed him on behavioral economics, to which Plazo acknowledged: “Of course, it parses language patterns—but it can’t feel a market’s pulse.”
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Asia Reflects: From Tech Worship to Tech Wisdom
The talk left a mark.
“I used to think AI just needed more data,” said Lee Min-Seo, a quant-in-training click here from South Korea. “Now I realize it also needs wisdom—and that’s the hard part.”
In a post-talk panel, tech mentors agreed with his sentiment. “These kids speak machine natively—but instinct,” said Dr. Raymond Tan, “is only half the story.”
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The Future Isn’t Autonomous—It’s Collaborative
Plazo shared that his firm is building “hybrid cognition models”—AI that blends pattern recognition with real-world awareness.
“Ethics can’t be outsourced to software,” he reminded. “Capital still requires conviction.”
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The Speech That Started a Thousand Debates
As Plazo exited the stage, the hall erupted. But more importantly, they lingered.
“I came for machine learning,” said a PhD candidate. “Instead, I got something more powerful—perspective.”
And maybe that’s the real power of AI’s limits: they force us to rediscover our own.