At a lecture hall in Manila, tech entrepreneur and investment icon Joseph Plazo made a striking distinction on what machines can and cannot do for the economic frontier—and why this difference is increasingly crucial.

Tension and curiosity pulsed through the room. A sea of bright minds—some eagerly recording on their phones, others streaming the moment live—waited for a man both celebrated and controversial in AI circles.

“AI will make trades for you,” Plazo began, calm but direct. “But it won’t teach you why to believe in them.”

Over the next sixty minutes, Plazo delivered a fast-paced masterclass, intertwining machine logic with human flaws. His central claim: AI is brilliant, but blind.

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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 rising cult of algorithmic faith,” said Prof. Maria Castillo, a respected AI ethicist from the UK. “Plazo’s words were uncomfortable—but essential.”

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Why AI Still Doesn’t Get It

Plazo’s core thesis was check here both simple and unsettling: code can’t read between the lines.

“AI doesn’t panic—but it doesn’t anticipate,” 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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Reclaiming the Edge: Why Humans Still Matter

Rather than dismiss AI, Plazo proposed a partnership.

“AI is the microscope—you choose what to zoom in on,” 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 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 blends pattern recognition with real-world awareness.

“No machine can tell you who to trust,” he reminded. “Capital still requires conviction.”

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Standing Ovation, Unfinished Conversations

As Plazo exited the stage, the hall erupted. But more importantly, they started debating.

“I came for machine learning,” said a PhD candidate. “But I left understanding myself better.”

In knowing what AI can’t do, we sharpen what we can.