“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—offered not hype, but hesitation.
MANILA — 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 almost mechanical consistency, 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:
- Is this consistent with how we want to be remembered?
- Does this decision consider factors machines miss—public mood, historical echoes, lived experience?
- Who takes responsibility if the outcome is devastating, but the logic was perfect?
???? **In a Region Racing Ahead, Who’s Asking the Difficult Questions?**
Across Asia, AI and fintech website are racing ahead—with minimal restraint.
Plazo asked a harder question: “We’re expanding capacity, not responsibility.”
Recent high-profile failures stem not from incompetence—but overconfidence in automation.
“The systems are functional—but are they wise?”
???? **Trading Tools That Can Read the World, Not Just the Market**
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.
“AI should be a compass—not a cannon.”
Investors weren’t just curious—they were concerned.
One called the model:
“A desperately needed alternative to automation without conscience.”
???? **Final Line: The Crash That Won’t Be Loud**
Plazo closed with a sentence that now circles boardrooms like a quiet echo:
“The next crash won’t be emotional. It will be rational—executed too quickly, without dissent.”
Not fear. Foresight.
Because in a world ruled by automation, the last act of leadership may simply be to ask: why?