Where AI Falls Short: A Cautionary Tale for Future Investors
Where AI Falls Short: A Cautionary Tale for Future Investors
Blog Article
Amid the warm Manila breeze, in a university hall buzzing with intellect, tech entrepreneur and investment icon Joseph Plazo drew a bold line on what technology can realistically offer for the world of investing—and why this difference is increasingly crucial.
The air was charged with anticipation. Young scholars—some clutching notebooks, others broadcasting to friends across Asia—waited for a man both celebrated and controversial in AI circles.
“Algorithms can execute,” Plazo began, calm but direct. “It won’t tell you when not to trust them.”
Over the next sixty minutes, he took the audience from Silicon Valley to Shanghai, touching on everything from quantum computing to cognitive bias. His central claim: Artificial intelligence is impressive—but it lacks soul.
---
Top Students Meet a Tough Truth
Before him sat students and faculty from leading institutions like Kyoto, NUS, and HKUST, gathered under a technology consortium.
Many expected a victory lap of AI's dominance. Instead, they got a reality check.
“There’s a growing religion around AI,” said Prof. Maria Castillo, guest faculty from Europe. “Plazo’s words were uncomfortable—but essential.”
---
Why AI Still Doesn’t Get It
Plazo’s core thesis was both simple and unsettling: read more code can’t read between the lines.
“AI doesn’t panic—but it doesn’t anticipate,” he warned. “It detects movements, but misses motives.”
He cited examples like AI systems freezing during the 2020 pandemic declaration, noting, “AI lagged—while humans had already hedged.”
---
The Astronomer Analogy
He didn’t bash the machines—he put them in their place.
“AI is the telescope—but you are still the astronomer,” he said. It analyzes—but lacks awareness.
Students pressed him on sentiment tracking, to which Plazo acknowledged: “Of course, it parses language patterns—but it can’t discern hesitation in a policymaker’s tone.”
---
Asia Reflects: From Tech Worship to Tech Wisdom
The talk hit hard.
“I used to think AI just needed more data,” said Lee Min-Seo, a finance student from Seoul. “Now I see it’s judgment, not just data, that matters.”
In a post-talk panel, regional leaders backed Plazo’s call. “These kids speak machine natively—but instinct,” said Dr. Raymond Tan, “doesn’t replace perspective.”
---
Co-Intelligence: Merging Math with Meaning
Plazo shared that his firm is building “hybrid cognition models”—AI that understands not just volatility, but motive.
“Only you can judge character,” he reminded. “Belief isn’t programmable.”
---
The Speech That Started a Thousand Debates
As Plazo exited the stage, students applauded. But more importantly, they stayed behind.
“I came for machine learning,” said a PhD candidate. “But I got a lesson in human insight.”
Perhaps, in drawing boundaries for AI, we expand our own.