Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere. Lately it seems like that’s all that’s being talked about. AI can do this. AI can do that. AI is changing the world.
The numbers reflect that momentum. Check out these statistics:
Grand View Research projects that the global AI market will grow at a compounded annual rate of 30.6% from 2026 through 2033.
And in McKinsey’s 2025 global AI survey, 88% of respondents said their organizations used AI in at least one business function.
According to Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, “Generative AI reached 53% population adoption within three years, faster than the PC or the internet, though the pace varies by country and correlates strongly with GDP per capita (the U.S. ranks 24th at 28.3% adoption).”
OpenAI has even introduced a personal finance experience in ChatGPT.
Regardless of how widespread it’s becoming, what does it mean for us personally?
As Christians, should we use AI for our personal finances? Should we not? Where are the boundaries, if any?
Clarifying Artificial Intelligence
Before I dive in, let’s clarify what we’re talking about. AI is a broad term for computer systems that perform tasks we associate with human intelligence.
For this article, I’m primarily talking about the chatbots you can ask questions, give information to, and request help from.
These tools learn patterns from large amounts of data and use those patterns to generate responses. They can explain concepts, organize information, and help work through a problem. But an answer that sounds thoughtful and confident can still be wrong.
That matters when the question involves your money.
Is It Good for Us?
As financial planners, we’ve gotten pretty good at responding with “It depends,” and this time is no different.
It really depends on how we’re using it as well as our expectations. I use AI in a few areas of my business, as do some of the other advisors in our network. Used wisely and cautiously, it can help me get work done and save time.
For Christians, though, usefulness is only part of the question. We also need to consider how a tool affects our stewardship.
Psalm 24:1 reminds us that, “The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.” That includes the resources entrusted to us. Our financial decisions are an opportunity to faithfully manage what belongs to Him.
So I’d ask: Is using AI helping me become more informed, thoughtful, and faithful with those resources? Or am I looking for a shortcut around understanding my decisions and taking responsibility for them?
The tool may help with the work. We’re still responsible for the decisions.
Be Clear About What You’re Asking AI to Do
Before opening a chatbot, get clear about what you want it to help you do.
Are you wanting it to give you certain insights? Are you trying to educate yourself? Are you racing straight toward getting financial advice?
These questions matter.
Asking for a plain-language explanation of diversification is different from asking which investments you should buy.
For example, asking how a Roth conversion works is different from asking how much you should convert this year.
The first type of question can help you learn. The second requires accurate information about your circumstances, current rules, and an understanding of how one decision affects the rest of your financial life.
Here are a few ways AI may be useful:
Explain a financial term, then give you a simple example.
Create a budgeting template with sample figures based on location.
Compare income and expense scenarios based on problems you want to solve.
Help identify universities to research for merit aid, then verify eligibility and deadlines on their websites.
Calculate a debt payoff scenario.
Help organize your thoughts and prepare questions to discuss with your spouse, financial planner, or tax professional.
You might ask, “Using this hypothetical budget, show me how increasing our giving would affect the amount left for other goals. Explain your math and what you’re assuming.”
That gives you something to think through. You still need to check the calculations and decide whether the assumptions fit your life. The same applies to investment analysis: a comparison can help you understand costs or diversification, but it doesn’t establish that a particular investment is right for you.
Someone I deeply respect shared with me that “AI should make us more human, not less.” So if using AI tools is encouraging less interaction, conversation, and accountability with humans, then that should be a red flag.
Check the Answer—and Understand the Reasoning
One of my concerns with AI is how easy it makes getting to an answer without understanding how we got there.
Even when I use AI to research, I find wrong or outdated information. Financial regulators have also warned that AI-generated investment information may be inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading.
Sometimes the information is generally correct but doesn’t apply to you. A response might overlook your tax situation, your need to access the money, or another obligation you never thought to mention.
Ask follow-up questions.
What assumptions are you making?
What information is missing?
What could make this answer wrong?
Where can I verify it?
Then actually check and verify the sources. Asking AI to double-check itself doesn’t replace independent verification.
If you can’t explain a proposed decision in your own words, slow down before acting on it. Stewardship includes growing in understanding and wisdom, even when getting an answer has become easier.
Be Careful With What You Share
Your financial information deserves care.
Avoid putting Social Security numbers, account numbers, passwords, and any other identifying or sensitive information into a general-purpose chatbot. For many educational questions, you can use a hypothetical example instead of uploading a tax return or account statement.
Treat information you share with a consumer AI tool as sensitive. Depending on the provider, product, settings, and agreement, it may be retained, reviewed by people, or used to improve models. Security incidents or accidental sharing can also expose information. Check the specific service’s current terms and privacy controls before sharing anything personal.
Before sharing information, understand what the specific service stores, how it may use that information, and what controls are available. Turning off model training doesn’t necessarily mean nothing is retained.
Also pay attention to AI features inside financial apps you already use. A familiar app name doesn’t answer every question about how a new feature handles your information.
Keep Seeking Wisdom and Human Counsel
Financial planner Tim Maurer puts it well: “Personal finance is more personal than it is finance.”
A spreadsheet can tell you what’s left after the bills are paid. It can’t settle every question about what you should do with it.
Should you help a family member? Increase your giving? Take a lower-paying job that gives you more time at home? Those decisions involve relationships, responsibilities, and convictions as well as numbers.
An AI tool can help you organize the tradeoffs. It can even produce a response that feels understanding. But that experience doesn’t replace being known by people who share your life, care about you, and can challenge your thinking.
There’s nothing wrong with managing your own finances. You don’t need to hire someone for every decision. But we do need to be careful about the tendency to isolate and fully rely on ourselves.
Proverbs 15:22 points to the value of counsel: “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”
That may include honest conversations with your spouse, a trusted mature Christian, or a qualified professional when the decision calls for specialized help.
And when we lack wisdom, James 1:5 directs us to ask God. We can use a tool to gather information while continuing to seek Him in prayer and Scripture. A chatbot’s response should never carry the authority of God’s direction for our lives.
Understand the Relationship Behind the Advice
This is another distinction worth considering before you act.
An investment adviser has a legal obligation to act in your best interest when providing investment advisory services. A general-purpose chatbot should not be assumed to have that same obligation to you.
That doesn’t mean a professional can’t make a mistake or that a fiduciary relationship guarantees a good outcome. It does mean there is a defined professional relationship and a standard of conduct. Don’t assume those protections exist simply because an AI response sounds like personalized advice.
The more consequential the decision, the more care it deserves. Before acting on a significant tax, investment, insurance, or estate-planning recommendation, verify the information with an appropriate qualified professional who understands your situation.
So Should Christians Use AI?
I believe Christians can use AI thoughtfully as one tool in managing their finances. But we should be clear about the job we’re giving it.
Use it to help you learn, organize, and prepare. Check what it tells you. Protect the information you share. Keep seeking wise counsel, and take responsibility for the decisions you make.
We should also pay attention to what we’re asking it to help us pursue. A plan that maximizes our account balances may still leave out generosity, family responsibilities, and the things God has placed before us.
Our goal as Christians is to be faithful with what He has entrusted to us. If AI helps us do that, it can be useful. If it encourages us to stop learning, avoid counsel, or look for certainty where we need wisdom and dependence on God, it’s time to reconsider how we’re using it.
AI may change how we work through financial questions but our responsibility to steward well remains.
If you want help want help on your stewardship journey then please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our advisors here at the Christian Financial Advisors Network.
Subscribe to get our content delivered straight to your inbox!
