What AI Can’t Replace:

Human Intelligence Still Wins in Finance’s Final Frontier

In an age of algorithmic promises, a unfiltered voice in Southeast Asia issues a sharp reminder that money still bends to human instinct—conscience, context, and conviction.

“AI won’t make you rich. But it will make your mistakes faster.”

That was the provocative opener at his jam-packed keynote at the University of the Philippines’ main forum—and it hit the crowd like a whipcrack.

Facing him were the region’s next-gen economists and AI thinkers—portfolio hopefuls, quant researchers, and finance scholars from leading institutions across Asia.

Plazo—CEO of a firm at the intersection of AI and capital—delivered a roadmap on what AI offers—and where it falls short in real-world investing.

And what it misses, he stressed, is think like a human.

### Beyond the Hype: Investing in the Age of Overpromised Intelligence

Dressed in a bespoke ensemble, Plazo commanded the stage with surgical precision.

He started boldly with a short video montage—social media influencers promising 90% win rates. Then he paused.

“I engineered what they now sell as magic,” he said, dryly.

The crowd chuckled—but ego wasn’t the point.

The message? AI is retrospective, not prophetic.

“You can’t outsource conviction. AI doesn’t feel in a trade—it echoes what already happened.”

“When war erupts, when Powell slips during a Fed announcement, when a bank tumbles before markets open—AI doesn’t flinch. That’s where we come in.”

### The Students Who Challenged Him—and Got Schooled

One unforgettable moment? A showdown between machine and instinct.

A student from NUS presented an AI-backed trade on the Nikkei—equipped with indicators, trends, and sentiment metrics.

Plazo eyed it. Then said:

“Looks clean, but what about Japan’s unannounced intervention?. Your AI doesn’t see the invisible. It reads tweets.”

The audience murmured. The student bowed slightly. Then: applause.

Another moment: A robotics PhD from Kyoto asked if quantum computing would render all current models useless.

Plazo’s answer? “Yes—and no. Quantum speed won’t fix human incentives. Train an AI on fear, and it’ll become a chaos machine.”

### The Three Myths Plazo Shattered in 45 Minutes

1. **“AI Will Replace Portfolio Managers.”**
False. AI assists—it backtests, filters, calculates—but it doesn’t replace hard-earned narrative memory.

2. **“AI Understands Fundamentals.”**
Wrong. AI reads tables, but fails at narrative causality. It may model interest rates, but it can’t predict a Strait of Hormuz conflict.

3. **“AI Makes You Smarter.”**
Actually, it might weaken your edge. “AI won’t kill you—but your laziness might,” Plazo warned. “It’s deskilling ourselves at scale.”

### Why Asia Paid Close Attention

This wasn’t a TED-style pep talk.

Asia’s universities are now minting billion-dollar fund builders. They’re asking: more code, or more conscience?

Plazo’s call: “Code, but think critically.”

In more info closed-door chats at Ateneo and a roundtable at AIM, professors debated what they called a clarion call.

One finance dean shared off-record, “This talk shifts the ethical foundation. Not magic—mirror.”

### The Future AI Can Build

Despite the warnings, Plazo isn’t a luddite.

He’s building models that read psychology as well as numbers—fusing bias detection and central bank logic.

His stance? “Co-pilot AI. Don’t worship it.”

“AI doesn’t need more data. It needs discernment. And that still belongs to us.”

The standing ovation was thunderous. And that jolt of insight is still shaking up syllabi in Asia’s elite universities.

In a world drunk on AI hype, he delivered the one thing no model ever could—wisdom.