The Limits of AI in Investing:
The Limits of AI in Investing:
Blog Article
Human Intelligence Still Wins in Finance’s Final Frontier
While tech evangelists tout AI supremacy, a defiant voice in Manila issues a sharp reminder that judgment still beats the algorithm—conscience, context, and conviction.
“AI isn’t your golden ticket. But it will make your mistakes faster.”
That was the provocative opener at his standing-room-only keynote at the University of the Philippines’ academic hall—and it hit the crowd like a whipcrack.
Facing him were the region’s next-gen economists and AI thinkers—portfolio hopefuls, quant researchers, and finance scholars from Asia’s top universities.
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 misses, he stressed, is replace your instinct.
### Beyond the Hype: Investing in the Age of Overpromised Intelligence
Dressed in a bespoke ensemble, Plazo commanded the stage with surgical precision.
He opened fire with a short video montage—social media influencers promising 90% win rates. Then he paused.
“I built the system they copied,” he said, dryly.
Laughter followed—but this wasn’t ego.
The message? Most AI is built on hindsight.
“You can’t outsource guts. AI doesn’t carry skin in a trade—it reacts what already happened.”
“When war unexpectedly explodes, when Powell coughs during a Fed announcement, when a bank implodes overnight—AI stays blind. Humans do.”
### The Students Who Challenged Him—and Got Schooled
The highlight of the talk? A live AI-vs-human trading duel.
A student from NUS presented an AI-backed trade on the Nikkei—technically solid, sentiment-scanned, and data-rich.
Plazo nodded thoughtfully. Then said:
“Looks clean, but what about Japan’s unannounced intervention?. Your AI doesn’t see the invisible. It scans headlines.”
The more info audience shifted. The student shrugged. 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. Infinite processing won’t fix human incentives. Train an AI on fear, and it’ll become a chaos machine.”
### The Three Myths Plazo Shattered in 45 Minutes
1. **“AI Will Replace Portfolio Managers.”**
False. AI assists—it backtests, filters, calculates—but it doesn’t replace hard-earned narrative memory.
2. **“AI Understands Fundamentals.”**
Wrong. AI reads tables, but fails at narrative causality. It may track oil supply, but it won’t flag a coup in Venezuela.
3. **“AI Makes You Smarter.”**
Actually, it might weaken your edge. “AI won’t kill you—but your laziness might,” Plazo warned. “It’s in forgetting how to think without it.”
### Why Asia Paid Close Attention
This wasn’t a TED-style pep talk.
Asia’s universities are now launching the next generation of quant leaders. They’re asking: more code, or more conscience?
Plazo’s call: “Code, but think critically.”
In closed-door chats at Ateneo and a roundtable at AIM, professors absorbed what they called a sobering perspective.
One finance dean remarked candidly, “Joseph might have rebooted our entire AI syllabus. Not magic—mirror.”
### The Future AI Can Build
Despite the critique, Plazo isn’t anti-AI.
He’s building hybrid neural systems—integrating macro signals and crowd psychology.
His stance? “Ride with it. Don’t abdicate to it.”
“It’s not starving for stats. It’s starving for judgment. And that still can’t be coded.”
The applause echoed across campuses. And that jolt of insight is still shaking up syllabi in Asia’s elite universities.
In a world drunk on AI hype, he delivered the one thing no model ever could—wisdom.