“In the Age of AI, Are We Losing the Right to Say ‘Wait’?”

At a gathering of future economists and code-literate capitalists, 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.”

???? **The Code Breaker Who Stopped to Ask Why**

He doesn’t throw stones from the sidelines. He built the bots that move the markets.

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 lacked the ability to see the moment.”

???? **Why Pause Could Be the Last here Power Humans Hold**

Plazo warned against the growing cultural obsession with speed—particularly in finance.

“Friction slows execution, but gives space for reflection.”

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?
- What would we know if we turned off the data feed?
- Are we prepared to own this trade, even if it fails?

???? **The Human Cost of High-Speed Finance**

Markets in Singapore, South Korea, and the Philippines are being reshaped by code.

Plazo asked a harder question: “The software is evolving—but is the oversight?”

Recent high-profile failures stem not from incompetence—but overconfidence in automation.

“We created tools that don’t know how to say no.”

???? **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.

“AI should be a compass—not a cannon.”

Investors weren’t just curious—they were concerned.

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 with a sentence that now circles boardrooms like a quiet echo:

“It won’t be noise that breaks us. It’ll be silence.”

Not fear. Foresight.

Because we built the machines. But we still write the stories.