A Wake-Up Call from Manila’s Leading AI Strategist

In an age of algorithmic promises, a unfiltered voice in Southeast Asia reminds us what money still listens to—intuition, discipline, and story.

“AI isn’t your golden ticket. But it will accelerate your losses.”

That was the provocative opener at his standing-room-only keynote at the University of the Philippines’ academic hall—and it landed like a thunderclap.

Facing him were hundreds of future fund managers and technologists—portfolio hopefuls, quant researchers, and finance scholars from leading institutions across Asia.

Plazo—CEO of a firm at the intersection of AI and capital—delivered a roadmap on what AI offers—and where it falls short in real-world investing.

And what it still lacks, he stressed, is think like a human.

### Beyond the Hype: Investing in the Age of Overpromised Intelligence

Dressed in a bespoke ensemble, Plazo paced the stage like a courtroom litigator.

He started boldly with a short video montage—YouTubers hawking AI bots. Then he paused.

“I engineered what they now sell as magic,” he said, deadpan.

Laughter broke out—but ego wasn’t the point.

The message? Most models replay what already happened.

“You can’t outsource principles. AI doesn’t believe in a trade—it mirrors what already happened.”

“When war unexpectedly explodes, when Powell coughs during a Fed announcement, when a bank tumbles before markets open—AI doesn’t notice. We do.”

### The Students more info Who Challenged Him—and Got Schooled

The jaw-dropper? A live AI-vs-human trading duel.

A student from NUS presented an AI-backed trade on the Nikkei—equipped with indicators, trends, and sentiment metrics.

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 grinned. 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. Faster chips won’t purge panic from data. Train an AI on fear, and it’ll become panic on steroids.”

### The Three Myths Plazo Shattered in 45 Minutes

1. **“AI Will Replace Portfolio Managers.”**
Not quite. AI supports—it crunches, optimizes, and speeds up decisions—but it doesn’t replace gut instinct.

2. **“AI Understands Fundamentals.”**
Wrong. AI interprets numbers, but can’t see through diplomatic posturing. It may model interest rates, but it doesn’t hear whispers in Davos.

3. **“AI Makes You Smarter.”**
Actually, it might make you duller. “The danger isn’t in trusting AI,” Plazo warned. “It’s losing your grip on human reason.”

### Why Asia Paid Close Attention

This wasn’t your average AI hype fest.

Asia’s universities are now home to finance’s future titans. They’re asking: more code, or more conscience?

Plazo’s call: “Do both—but lead with the mind.”

In closed-door chats at Ateneo and a roundtable at AIM, professors wrestled with 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—integrating macro signals and crowd psychology.

His stance? “Ride with it. Don’t abdicate to it.”

“It’s not starving for stats. It’s missing context. And that still can’t be coded.”

The applause echoed across campuses. And that jolt of insight is still echoing in Asia’s elite universities.

In a world drunk on AI hype, he delivered the one thing no model ever could—wisdom.