At a lecture hall in Manila, 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.

The air was charged with anticipation. Young scholars—some clutching notebooks, others broadcasting to friends across Asia—waited for a man known not only as an AI visionary, but also a contrarian investor.

“AI will make trades for you,” Plazo opened with authority. “But understanding the why—that’s still on you.”

Over the next hour, he took the audience from Silicon Valley to Shanghai, touching on everything from quantum computing to cognitive bias. 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, 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 doesn’t panic—but it doesn’t anticipate,” 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 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 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, “doesn’t replace perspective.”

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The Future Isn’t Autonomous—It’s Collaborative

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

“Only more info you can judge character,” he reminded. “Belief isn’t programmable.”

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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.