The Limits of AI in Investing:
The Limits of AI in Investing:
Blog Article
Joseph Plazo’s Hard Truths to Asia’s Next Generation of Investors
While tech evangelists tout AI supremacy, a defiant voice in Manila issues a sharp reminder that judgment still beats the algorithm—conscience, context, and conviction.
“AI won’t make you rich. But it will amplify your errors at scale.”
That was the blistering opener at his jam-packed keynote at the University of the Philippines’ main forum—and it hit the crowd like a whipcrack.
In front of him were the region’s next-gen economists and AI thinkers—portfolio hopefuls, quant researchers, and finance scholars from leading institutions across Asia.
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 created the model they ripped off,” he said, matter-of-fact.
Laughter broke out—but that wasn’t the punchline.
The message? Most AI is built on hindsight.
“You can’t outsource guts. AI doesn’t believe in a trade—it reacts what already happened.”
“When war unexpectedly explodes, when Powell coughs during a Fed announcement, when a bank tumbles before markets open—AI doesn’t flinch. That’s where we come in.”
### The Students Who Challenged Him—and Got Schooled
The highlight of the talk? 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 nodded thoughtfully. Then said:
“Good. But you missed the BOJ’s stealth bond buy this morning. Your AI doesn’t sense the bluff. It scans headlines.”
The audience shifted. 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.”**
Not quite. AI assists—it backtests, filters, calculates—but it doesn’t replace hard-earned narrative memory.
2. **“AI Understands Fundamentals.”**
Wrong. AI decodes trends, but doesn’t grasp geopolitics. It may track oil supply, but it won’t flag a coup in Venezuela.
3. **“AI Makes You Smarter.”**
Actually, it might lure you into dependency. “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 here 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 turning point speech.
One finance dean privately told Forbes, “Joseph might have rebooted our entire AI syllabus. Not magic—mirror.”
### The Future AI Can Build
Despite the warnings, Plazo isn’t a luddite.
He’s building multi-signal trading engines—that blend intuition cues with algorithmic structure.
His stance? “Let AI drive—but you steer. Don’t go on autopilot.”
“It’s not starving for stats. It’s missing context. And that still belongs to us.”
The standing ovation was thunderous. And the ripple is still moving in Asia’s halls of learning.
In a world drunk on AI hype, Joseph Plazo offered something rare: intelligence that’s still human.