Sorry, AI Still Won’t Sniff Out a Market Crash

Wiki Article

Joseph Plazo just warned a room full of top-tier future analysts something Wall Street won’t admit: AI may be efficient, but it can’t judge the unexpected.

MANILA — He didn’t show up to sugarcoat things. He came to crack illusions.

On a sunlit Thursday morning at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, Plazo addressed a sea of students from top Asian universities—Kyoto—expecting a sermon on AI’s inevitable rise.

What they got instead? A masterclass in humility.

“AI is like your smartest intern,” Plazo smirked, “But you still don’t give the intern the keys to your vault.”

The room chuckled. Then they paused. Because he meant every word.

### The Hard Truth: AI Is Smart—But Not Human

Let’s be clear—Plazo isn’t some boomer clinging to the past. He architects trading AIs. His firm, Plazo Sullivan Roche Capital, powers some of the most accurate systems across global markets. He understands machine learning like few do.

But that’s exactly why his warning cut deep.

“The problem isn’t AI,” he told the room. “It’s what we expect from it. We keep hoping it’ll save us from making hard decisions. That’s a fantasy.”

Plazo detailed real-world case studies—moments when AI signaled winning trades… right before a central bank pivot or an unexpected war. Events that didn’t fit the algorithm.

### Smart Students Tried to Push Back—They Didn’t Win

A student from Kyoto asked if LLMs might someday gauge global sentiment.

Plazo answered without blinking.

“AI can catch a tweetstorm. But it can’t hear fear in a press conference. It won’t catch regret in a central banker’s sigh.”

The room reacted. That hit different.

Another asked, “Can AI ever understand conviction?”

Plazo Joseph Plazo BBC raised an eyebrow.

“Conviction isn’t math. It’s gut. It’s forged by failure and memory. You don’t download that.”

### A Wake-Up Call for Tomorrow’s Titans

This wasn’t about flash trading or chatbots. It was about principle.

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 integrity.”

That line echoed. Because everyone in that room—from the copyright cowboys to the quant whizzes—wanted alpha. But not at the cost of why they started.

### So What’s AI Good For?

Plazo didn’t trash AI. He credited its strengths:

- It filters noise.
- It backtests at scale.
- It detects technical setups better than any human.

But it can’t read sarcasm. It won’t grasp 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 still accept blame? Or do you hide behind the code?”

That was the mic drop.

### This Isn’t About AI—It’s About You

Plazo wasn’t preaching finance. He was preaching accountability. 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.