In a packed amphitheater at the University of the Philippines, renowned AI investor 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 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 lecture, Plazo delivered a fast-paced masterclass, balancing data science with real-world decision making. His central claim: AI is brilliant, but blind.

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Bright Minds Confront the Machine’s Limits

Before him sat students and faculty from prestigious universities across Asia, assembled under a pan-Asian finance forum.

Many expected a victory lap of AI's dominance. Instead, they got a reality check.

“There’s a growing religion around AI,” said Prof. Maria Castillo, guest faculty from Europe. “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 won’t flinch, but neither will here it foresee,” he warned. “It recognizes patterns—but ignores the power structures.”

He cited examples like the market chaos of early 2020, noting, “Machines were late to the signal. People weren’t.”

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Wisdom in a World of Code

Plazo didn’t argue against AI—but for boundaries.

“AI is the microscope—you choose what to zoom in on,” he said. It analyzes—but lacks awareness.

Students pressed him on sentiment tracking, to which Plazo acknowledged: “Of course, it parses language patterns—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. “Now I realize it also needs wisdom—and that’s the hard part.”

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 “co-intelligence”—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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The Speech That Started a Thousand Debates

As Plazo exited the stage, students applauded. But more importantly, they lingered.

“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.