Not All AI is Created Equal
This is a guest post from Gloo, written by Gloo Nick Skytland (Vice President, Developers and AI Research) & Ali Llewellyn (Director, Gloo Open)
“AI” has become one of the most overused, and least understood, terms in modern life. It’s everywhere: in headlines, board meetings, Sunday morning sermons, and coffee conversations. The phrase artificial intelligence now covers everything from voice assistants and photo filters to complex systems that generate text, diagnose diseases, or manage supply chains.
But here’s the catch: not all AI is created equal.
The systems we lump together under the label AI differ vastly in their purpose, design, and impact:
Some are built to amplify human potential.
Others are designed to extract as much data and attention from users as possible.
To the casual observer, these differences can be invisible, hidden behind glossy interfaces and clever marketing. But for leaders, especially in the Church, understanding those differences is essential.
Whether you realize it or not, AI is already shaping your congregation.
When AI Becomes the Teacher
Your people are using it to write, to learn, to pray, and to process their emotions. It has regularly become their teacher, their counselor, their mentor, and even their marriage therapist. Many are turning to AI for advice, encouragement, and spiritual reflection, roles that were once held by trusted relationships within the church.
As a ministry leader, you face a choice: will you be proactive, helping your people use AI in ways that promote human flourishing? Or will you allow well-meaning people to make choices with powerful, unintended consequences, trusting systems that may not share their values or understand their faith?
Without guidance, your congregation could rely on tools that seem helpful on the surface but are not aligned with the deeper values of love, truth, and community that define your mission.
The Hidden Design Choices Behind Every Model
AI systems don’t emerge from thin air. They are built by people, shaped by assumptions, trained on data, and fine-tuned toward specific outcomes. Every model is influenced by the intentions of its creators.
Consider these hidden factors:
- Data Sources – What information was used to train the model? Was it gathered ethically? Does it include diverse perspectives or perpetuate existing inequalities?
- Optimization Goals – What is the AI trying to maximize? Accuracy? Engagement? Performance? Profit? Human flourishing?
- Tuning and Alignment – How does the model respond to ethical dilemmas, social issues, or theological questions? Who decided what “right” looks like?
These design choices create built-in biases that affect how AI behaves. Just as every human institution carries the values of its founders, every AI carries the imprint of its makers.
An AI trained to generate empathy and understanding will support pastoral care. An AI trained to maximize engagement might exploit fear or outrage to keep people clicking. The difference matters deeply for the Church, where truth, trust, and relationship form the foundation of ministry.
Why This Matters for Communities and Leaders
Technology has always shaped how we live out our faith, from the printing press to radio sermons to livestreamed worship. But AI is different in one crucial way: it doesn’t just transmit information; it interprets and generates it. That means it can influence how people understand Scripture, identity, and even what it means to be human.
Without thoughtful guidance, many in your community will rely on AI to help them pray, study, or make moral decisions. The rise of “shadow AI” is the unsanctioned, unexamined use of AI tools across workplaces and churches. In practice, this means that well-intentioned staff and volunteers may already be using systems that compromise privacy, distort truth, or undermine trust.
This is not a question of technical competence; it is a question of promoting human flourishing.
A Call to Discernment: Choosing Wisely in the AI Age
Discernment has always been a core Christian practice. In this new era, it must extend to our digital tools as well. To steward AI well, leaders need both curiosity and conviction.
Curiosity asks, “How might this help us better serve our people?” It explores innovation with hope and imagination.
Conviction asks, “Does this align with our values and vision of human flourishing?” It filters out tools that undermine the dignity or formation of people.
This curiosity and conviction are what led us to form Gloo AI with a commitment to serve the faith ecosystem with values-aligned tech that supports human flourishing.
The Flourishing AI (FAI) Benchmark is our vision for AI that is ethically grounded, mission-driven, and values-aligned. It gives leaders an understanding of how AI promotes human flourishing. Based on work from the Harvard Center for Human Flourishing, these seven empirically validated dimensions—faith, relationships, meaning, finances, health, character, and happiness—collectively define comprehensive human flourishing across all areas of life.
Rather than measuring AI solely on speed, accuracy, or coherence, the Flourishing AI (FAI) approach evaluates systems’ responses based on their alignment with comprehensive human flourishing, rather than narrow technical capabilities or simple harm avoidance.
As leaders, this framework invites you to ask not just “Can we use this?” but “Should we?” and “How does this serve the image of God in every person?” The goal is not to banish AI from the church, but to shape its use so that it serves God’s purposes rather than competing with them. As artificial intelligence increasingly mediates human understanding, decision-making, and moral reflection, it becomes essential to evaluate how these systems encode—or omit—our values and shared commitments.
The initial benchmark, published in July 2025, introduced a comprehensive methodology for evaluating models using the Harvard Human Flourishing Index (HFI) as a conceptual foundation. The result of our recent work is the development of a benchmark that not only identifies models that perform well in general terms but also reveals where they genuinely reflect Christian commitments to faith, hope, and love, setting the stage for the development of AI systems that are truly theologically representative.
Practically, you can use FAI in your church or organization to:
- Refine your AI strategy to reflect your mission and values
- Educate staff and congregants on safe, meaningful use
- Audit current tools for privacy, bias, and ethical alignment
Flourishing in the Age of Intelligence
Every new technology raises questions of stewardship. The printing press democratized Scripture. The internet connected global congregations. Now, AI invites us to imagine a future where digital systems collaborate with us in ministry, helping us teach, counsel, and serve more effectively.
But this kind of flourishing will not happen by accident. It requires intentional, values-driven leadership.
The Church has a vital opportunity to model a different relationship with technology—one that resists both fear and idolatry. Instead of rejecting AI as dangerous or embracing it as divine, leaders can chart a third way: one of wisdom, stewardship, and love.
Your congregation doesn’t need an AI expert; it needs a discerning shepherd. Your staff doesn’t need more tools; it needs a clear vision for how those tools serve your mission. And your people don’t need to be protected from technology; they need to be formed even when using it.
Because your people will use AI. And as their leader, you have the opportunity to help them recognize that not all AI is created equal and that how we design, choose, and use it will shape who we become.
Serving Those Who Serve
As part of our commitment to serving those who serve, we want to help you grow your own knowledge, implementation, and infrastructure with AI. We’d love to help you steward this technology to better serve your people.
If you’re looking for enterprise solutions or ways we can consult with you, visit gloo.com or reach out to connect with our team. Learn more about Gloo AI here.
