What AI Can’t Do: A Manila Lecture Shakes the Finance World
What AI Can’t Do: A Manila Lecture Shakes the Finance World
Blog Article
Amid the warm Manila breeze, in a university hall buzzing with intellect, tech entrepreneur and investment icon Joseph Plazo made a striking distinction on what AI can and cannot achieve for the future of finance—and why that distinction matters now more than ever.
You could feel the electricity in the crowd. Young scholars—some furiously taking notes, others capturing every word via livestream—waited for a man known not only as an AI visionary, but also a contrarian investor.
“Machines will execute trades flawlessly,” Plazo opened with authority. “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: Machines are powerful, but not wise.
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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, “AI lagged—while humans had already hedged.”
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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 behavioral economics, to which Plazo acknowledged: “Sure, it can flag Reddit anomalies—but it can’t feel a market’s pulse.”
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Asia Reflects: From Tech Worship to Tech Wisdom
The talk hit hard.
“I used to think AI just needed more data,” said Lee Min-Seo, a finance student from Seoul. “Now I realize it also needs wisdom—and that’s the hard part.”
In a post-talk panel, regional leaders backed Plazo’s call. “These kids speak machine natively—but instinct,” said Dr. Raymond Tan, “is not insight.”
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The Future Isn’t Autonomous—It’s Collaborative
Plazo shared that his firm is building “symbiotic systems”—AI that blends pattern recognition with real-world awareness.
“No machine can tell you who to trust,” he reminded. “Capital still requires conviction.”
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Standing Ovation, Unfinished Conversations
As Plazo exited the stage, the hall erupted. But more importantly, they started debating.
“I click here came for machine learning,” said a PhD candidate. “But I left understanding myself better.”
In knowing what AI can’t do, we sharpen what we can.