Opposed to using AI for her software-engineering job, Erin Maus secured something of a miracle from her employer: a religious exemption.
Maus, a Unitarian Universalist, said she proposed the special treatment in April, citing environmental and ethical objections to AI that don’t align with her religious beliefs. She also said she consulted an employment lawyer and her local chapter’s minister to help make her case.
Maus was granted the accommodation in mid-May, according to an email seen by Business Insider.
“I’m writing my code and reviewing my code by hand, which seems crazy to say,” said the 34-year-old, who lives in North Carolina and works for a large tech-entertainment company that she described as progressive. “Just two years ago, how else would you do it?”
Maus’ AI workaround comes as a growing number of employers mandate and track workers’ AI usage. The technology has also recently drawn scrutiny from Pope Leo XIV, who warned last month that AI could undermine human dignity and displace workers if left unchecked in a more than 42,000-word encyclical.
Some people have interpreted the pontiff’s letter as grounds for religious objections to using AI in the workplace. It’s a stance that carries real legal weight, given that federal law requires employers to consider faith-based requests.
“The funniest possible outcome of the AI mandate era is about to be HR departments discovering that ‘sincerely held religious belief’ under Title VII has a much lower bar than they assumed, and Pope Leo handed every Catholic employee a written excuse,” wrote Corey Quinn, a software-startup founder in San Francisco, on X.
‘Playing priest’
Unitarian Universalists recognize that advances in technology must be guided by an ethical understanding of humanity, said Suzanne Morse, a spokeswoman for the Unitarian Universalist Association. The group is currently developing a policy about the use of AI and a theological statement on it, she said.
As more religious groups wrestle with AI’s ethical implications, some employment lawyers see a potential workplace conundrum. While discussions about faith-based objections to the technology were underway before Pope Leo released his encyclical on Memorial Day, they say that his intervention could spur a new wave of workers to seek faith-based exemptions from AI requirements.
Employers “might have to promulgate some rules about this very quickly,” said John J. Meehan, an attorney who specializes in workplace discrimination and labor law with law firm Joseph & Norinsberg. “If I were one of the bigger defense-side employment firms, I’d be doing that right now.”
Workers filed more than 3,600 religion-based discrimination charges with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in fiscal 2024, about 70% more than in 2021, the last full fiscal year before vaccine-mandate disputes drove a sharp increase in filings.
Employers could wind up in court if they outright dismiss workers who request a faith-based exemption from using AI, said Ashley Herd, a former McKinsey counsel and head of North American HR who now advises managers and employers on workplace issues.
“Playing priest, and telling employees their request isn’t legitimate, does not tend to bode well for companies,” said Herd, also a cohost of the “HR Besties” podcast. “A jury doesn’t like it when employees get made fun of by managers or HR.”
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a postal worker who sought an exemption from Sunday shifts for religious reasons. The decision raised the bar for employers seeking to deny religious accommodations, making it harder to reject requests on the grounds that they create workplace burdens.
Even so, Pope Leo’s remarks may not be a Hail Mary for workers looking to dodge AI. Dr. Michael Naughton, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, said the pontiff didn’t imply that Catholic workers shouldn’t adopt AI, but rather questioned whether it advances or diminishes human agency.
“It’s probably going down the wrong alley to say this is a religious right, that ‘I don’t have to use it’ ” in the workplace, Naughton said.
A case for opting out
Workplace concerns are only one manifestation of a broader backlash against AI. At some college graduation ceremonies this spring, students heckled commencement speakers who praised the technology, while residents nationwide are fighting the construction of AI data centers.
Nearly a third of workers harbor negative feelings — including anxiety, uncertainty, and resistance — toward AI, according to a May study from HR software company Cornerstone. The findings are based on a survey of 2,000 US and UK workers by research firm Censuswide.
Carina Cortez, chief people officer at Cornerstone, said she’s seen workers resist new technology in the past and eventually come to embrace it. Though Cornerstone doesn’t require its roughly 3,500 employees to use AI, she warned that people who dismiss it for any reason could dent their careers, as the technology is becoming ubiquitous in the workplace.
“Opting out today can mean falling behind tomorrow,” Cortez said.
For now, Maus isn’t worried about being left behind. She said she recently completed a coding task at the same speed as a colleague who used AI to handle a nearly identical assignment.
“AI doesn’t really seem to be this game changer,” she said, adding that her experience with the technology has only reinforced her view. “Your principles matter.”
