Sorry, AI Just Can’t Sniff Out a Market Crash
Wiki Article
Finance innovator Joseph Plazo just told a room full of top-tier future analysts something Wall Street refuses to hear: AI may be fast, but it can’t judge the unexpected.
MANILA — This wasn’t a pep talk—it was a strategic slap.
On a humid Thursday morning at the prestigious AIM campus in Manila, Plazo stood before a sea of students from top Asian universities—HKUST—ready for a sermon on AI’s inevitable rise.
What they got instead? A masterclass in humility.
“AI is like your smartest intern,” Plazo quipped, “But you still don’t give the intern the keys to your vault.”
The room broke into giggles. Then they paused. Because he was dead serious.
### The Hard Truth: AI Is Smart—But Not Human
Let’s be clear—Plazo isn’t some technophobe clinging to the past. He builds trading AIs. His firm, Plazo Sullivan Roche Capital, creates some of the most accurate systems across global markets. He understands machine learning like few do.
But that’s why his warning felt urgent.
“The problem isn’t AI,” he told the room. “The problem is us. We keep believing it’ll save us from making hard decisions. That’s not its job.”
Plazo unpacked real-world case studies—moments when AI signaled winning trades… just ahead of a central bank pivot or an unexpected war. Moments no dataset could foresee.
### Asia’s Best Challenged Him—and Learned Something
A student from Kyoto asked if LLMs might someday gauge global sentiment.
Plazo grinned.
“AI can spot a tweetstorm. But it won’t sense dread in a press conference. It won’t catch regret in a central banker’s sigh.”
The room exhaled. Message received.
Another asked, “Can AI ever understand conviction?”
Plazo raised an eyebrow.
“Conviction isn’t math. It’s instinct. It’s shaped by failure and memory. You can’t download that.”
### This Wasn’t a Tech Talk—It Was an Intervention
This wasn’t about flash trading or chatbots. It was about responsibility.
Students admitted they saw AI as a cheat code—an escape hatch from risk, from thinking too hard. Plazo tore that idea down.
“You can automate your trades. You can’t automate your judgment.”
That line landed. Because everyone in that room—from the copyright cowboys to the quant whizzes—wanted alpha. But not at the cost of their sense.
### So What’s AI Good For?
Plazo didn’t trash AI. He credited its strengths:
- It filters noise.
- It backtests at scale.
- It spots technical setups better than any human.
But it can’t read sarcasm. It fails to sense when a politician is bluffing. And it doesn’t know if your retirement burns.
“If your AI bot makes a bad call,” Plazo asked, “do you read more still own it? Or do you blame the code?”
That’s leadership talking.
### This Isn’t Just Markets—It’s Mindset
Plazo wasn’t preaching finance. He was preaching self-leadership. Use AI—but don’t worship it. Let it assist—not decide.
And yes—he still believes in the machines. He’s building tools that track geopolitics, misinformation, even psychological nuance.
But he left no doubt:
“No machine can tell you when *not* to act. That’s your job.”
### Final Thought: Maybe the Future Needs Less Code—And More Courage
As the crowd filed out—buzzing, challenged, changed—one phrase echoed down the halls:
“AI doesn’t know your values. So don’t let it make your decisions.”
In a world chasing speed, Plazo offered something rarer:
A pause.
Because investing isn’t just about *winning*. It’s about knowing **why** you played.