At a regional summit of the next generation of economic leaders, Joseph Plazo—founder of the algorithmic trading firm Plazo Sullivan Roche—delivered a pointed appeal for ethical caution.

MANILA — Plazo didn’t talk about speed or scale.

“If you hand over your portfolio to a machine,” he said, “you must ask: does it reflect your ethics—or just your ambitions?”

???? **The Man Behind the Model—Now Questioning Its Impact**

He isn’t speaking from the sidelines. 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**

Traders are trained to move quickly—too quickly.

“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:

- Are we outsourcing our ethics to an equation?
- Are we listening to voices that can’t be graphed?
- Will anyone say, ‘This was my call,’ or just point at the machine?

???? **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: “AI is moving capital—but is it moving it in the right direction?”

He cited the 2024 collapse of two Hong Kong hedge funds.

“These weren’t errors of greed or emotion. They were perfectly logical moves—executed without context.”

???? **A New Path: Machines That Listen as Well as Compute**

Plazo is not anti-AI. He’s pro-responsibility.

His here firm is developing what he calls **“narrative-integrated AI”**—models that factor in geopolitics, tone, and social context alongside market data.

“Machines that don’t just predict, but understand.”

At a private dinner after the event, multiple venture capital leaders discussed collaborations.

One investor called Plazo’s talk:

“A reminder that the tools we build still need human hands at the wheel.”

???? **The Collapse That Could Begin in Silence**

Plazo ended with a thought that may echo across boardrooms:

“We won’t be victims of chaos—but of unchecked confidence.”

Not a warning against AI—but a demand for wisdom to go with it.

Because when machines take over the trades, someone must still own the consequences.