‘AI in Question, Part 3’: What About Discernment?
In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about relationships. In Part 2, I wrote about experience.
But as I’ve been thinking more about how AI is reshaping the creative process, I keep coming back to something even fundamental: discernment.
Because fundraising creative isn’t just about writing strong words or interpreting data well.
It’s about wisdom. It’s about judgment. It’s about sensing not only what to say, but whether to say it at all.
And that raises the question I find myself asking:
How much should we really expect from AI when it comes to discernment?
The Spirit’s role in wisdom
On one hand, the answer seems obvious. AI can’t pray, it can’t sense the Spirit’s nudge, and it’s incapable of asking if something it writes feels out of step with God’s timing.
That kind of discernment is Spirit-led. It requires listening, testing, and waiting.
Jesus promised, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:13), and that kind of guidance doesn’t usually happen in an instant.
Prayer is rarely answered in a split second, and for good reason.
There’s so much to learn in the waiting.
But could the Spirit use AI?
On the other hand, I can’t ignore the fact that the Spirit has used inanimate objects before.
God brought water from a rock. He spoke through a donkey. Jesus said that even the stones could cry out.
If the Spirit can use those things, can’t he also use AI?
The tension I keep feeling
AI is designed to be instant, but discernment usually takes time.
That slowness isn’t a bug in discernment. It’s the evidence that the Spirit is the one leading, not just our own cleverness or efficiency.
So when I pray over the words I write, I sometimes wonder:
Should I also pray for AI and the words it gives me?
And if I do, does the speed of AI short-circuit the Spirit’s work?
Or could it be that the Spirit might even choose to work through something produced in an instant?
Still an open question
I don’t have a neat answer here. Honestly, I’m still wrestling with it.
But here’s what I do know: Fundraising is more than efficiency, and it’s more than data. At its best, it’s ministry, and ministry has always required the Spirit’s leading.
So as we learn to use AI in our creative process, maybe the question isn’t just, What can AI do for us?
Maybe it’s also What is the Spirit doing in us? as we decide how to use it.
