In a packed amphitheater at the University of the Philippines, 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. Students—some eagerly recording on their phones, others streaming the moment live—waited for a man both celebrated and controversial in AI circles.

“AI will make trades for you,” Plazo began, calm but direct. “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, a respected AI ethicist from the UK. “We need this kind of discomfort in academia.”

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The Machine’s Blindness: Plazo’s Case for Caution

Plazo’s core thesis was both simple and unsettling: AI does not grasp nuance.

“AI won’t flinch, but neither will it foresee,” 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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Wisdom in a World of Code

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 analyzes—but lacks awareness.

Students pressed him on sentiment tracking, to which Plazo acknowledged: “Sure, it can flag Reddit anomalies—but it can’t discern hesitation in a policymaker’s tone.”

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A Mental Shift Among Asia’s Finest

The talk sparked introspection.

“I believed in the supremacy of code,” said Lee Min-Seo, a quant-in-training from South Korea. “Turns out, insight can’t be uploaded.”

In a post-talk panel, faculty and entrepreneurs echoed the caution. “This generation is born with algorithmic reflexes—but instinct,” said Dr. Raymond Tan, “is not insight.”

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What’s Next? AI That Thinks in Narratives

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 here 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.