At a lecture hall in Manila, Joseph Plazo drew a bold line 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. Students—some eagerly recording on their phones, others streaming the moment live—waited for a man revered for blending code with contrarianism.

“AI will make trades for you,” he said with gravity. “But it won’t teach you why to believe in them.”

Over the next sixty minutes, Plazo delivered a fast-paced masterclass, intertwining machine logic with human flaws. His central claim: Artificial intelligence is impressive—but it lacks soul.

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Top Students Meet a Tough Truth

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, 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 vehicle—but you decide the direction,” he said. It sees—but doesn’t think.

Students pressed him on behavioral economics, to which Plazo acknowledged: “Yes, it can scan Twitter sentiment—but it can’t feel a market’s pulse.”

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The Ripple Effect on a Digital Generation

The talk left a mark.

“I thought AI could replace intuition,” said Lee Min-Seo, a finance student from Seoul. “Now I see it’s judgment, not just data, that matters.”

In a post-talk panel, regional leaders backed Plazo’s call. “These kids speak machine natively—but instinct,” said Dr. Raymond Tan, “doesn’t replace perspective.”

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The Future Isn’t Autonomous—It’s Collaborative

Plazo shared that his firm is building get more info “symbiotic systems”—AI that pairs statistical logic with situational nuance.

“Only you can judge character,” 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 came for machine learning,” said a PhD candidate. “Instead, I got something more powerful—perspective.”

Perhaps, in drawing boundaries for AI, we expand our own.