“The Machines Are Trading. But Who’s Still Thinking?”
“The Machines Are Trading. But Who’s Still Thinking?”
Blog Article
Inside the auditorium of the Asian Institute of Management, Joseph Plazo—AI investor and founder of Plazo Sullivan Roche Capital—delivered not predictions, but a pointed pause.
As the Philippines builds its reputation as a technology hub — the atmosphere inside AIM’s lecture hall was not electric, but charged—with thought.
Plazo, a man whose trading systems are trusted by institutional investors across continents and have posted near-perfect results in volatile markets, did not arrive to dazzle.
“Delegating decisions doesn’t absolve responsibility.”
???? **When the Innovator Becomes the Interrogator**
He doesn’t throw stones from the sidelines. He shaped the system that now dominates.
Which makes his unease all the more compelling.
“Optimisation is a tool, not a compass.”
He referenced an early pandemic incident: an AI under his firm flagged a short trade on gold—right before central bank intervention reversed market expectations.
“We stopped it. It crunched numbers, not nuance.”
???? **Delay Isn’t a Bug. It’s a Human Feature.**
Plazo warned against the growing cultural obsession with speed—particularly in finance.
“Machines may win milliseconds. But humans protect meaning.”
He introduced a three-question model he calls **Conviction Calculus**—a checklist not for technical performance, but for ethical clarity:
- What does this say about who we are?
- Does this decision consider factors machines miss—public mood, historical echoes, lived experience?
- Are we hiding behind the algorithm?
???? **Asia’s AI Boom—and the Accountability Gap**
The investment in algorithmic systems is massive, and largely unregulated.
Plazo asked a harder question: “The software is evolving—but is the oversight?”
AI models executed flawlessly—right into catastrophe.
“The systems are functional—but are they wise?”
???? **Beyond the Bot: Plazo’s Push for Narrative AI**
Plazo isn’t calling for a retreat from technology.
He is instead building what he terms **“narrative-integrated AI”**—systems that assess not just numbers, but context, tone, and geopolitical undercurrents.
“A good algorithm predicts price. A better one understands pattern. The best? Purpose.”
The idea drew immediate attention.
One called the model:
“What regulation failed to build, this framework might.”
???? **The Next Market Failure May Begin With a Perfectly Executed Mistake**
Plazo closed read more with a sentence that now circles boardrooms like a quiet echo:
“It won’t come from fear. It will come from code—unquestioned, unchallenged.”
Not a prophecy of doom—but a call for discernment.
Because in a world ruled by automation, the last act of leadership may simply be to ask: why?