“Joseph Plazo on the Dangers of Algorithmic Obedience: Who Controls the Machine?”
“Joseph Plazo on the Dangers of Algorithmic Obedience: Who Controls the Machine?”
Blog Article
Inside the Asian Institute of Management, Joseph Plazo—founder of the algorithmic trading firm Plazo Sullivan Roche—delivered a pointed appeal for ethical caution.
MANILA — What he offered instead was something rarely heard in AI circles: resistance.
“Profit isn’t the only thing on the line. So is principle.”
???? **Joseph Plazo: A Technologist Sounding the Alarm**
Plazo is not new to this space. His firm’s AI systems have posted a 99% win rate across key timeframes and are in use by institutional clients across Europe and Asia.
Still, he asks: what happens when efficiency erases human context?
“Optimisation is only part of the equation,” Plazo explained. “Direction, purpose—those remain human.”
He shared a case from the early days of the pandemic. One of his firm’s bots flagged a short on gold just before the U.S. Federal Reserve issued an emergency policy shift.
“We overrode it. It understood signals. But not sentiment.”
???? **Why Strategic Hesitation May Be Our Last Line of Defense**
In elite financial circles, speed read more is often glorified.
“In high-volatility moments, the pause is where leadership happens.”
Plazo introduced a framework he calls **“Conviction Calculus”**—three questions that must be asked before executing an AI recommendation:
- Does this decision align with our values—not just our strategy?
- Is there non-digital confirmation? What do experience, memory, and culture say?
- Does leadership end when the model takes over?
???? **As Fintech Booms, Where Are the Ethical Guardrails?**
Across Asia, nations are investing heavily in fintech and AI-driven innovation. From Singapore to South Korea, the push toward automation is framed as economic strategy.
But Plazo’s question cuts deeper: “We’re scaling faster than we’re thinking.”
He warned of systems designed to win—but not to pause.
“It was failure by design—because no one was allowed to stop it.”
???? **The Alternative: Narrative AI That Considers More Than Numbers**
Plazo is not anti-AI. He’s pro-responsibility.
His firm is developing what he calls **“narrative-integrated AI”**—models that factor in geopolitics, tone, and social context alongside market data.
“The future isn’t faster bots—it’s smarter, humbler ones.”
That idea is already drawing attention.
One investor called Plazo’s talk:
“A necessary reckoning for financial technology.”
???? **The Final Warning: Crashes Don’t Always Start Loudly**
Plazo ended with a thought that may echo across boardrooms:
“Emotion won’t trigger the fall. Certainty will.”
It wasn’t fearmongering. It was foresight.
Because when machines take over the trades, leadership cannot go offline.