Software engineer reportedly wins religious exemption from AI use

A North Carolina software engineer, Erin Maus, reportedly secured a religious exemption from using artificial intelligence at work by citing Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on AI. Maus, a Unitarian Universalist, argued that AI use conflicted with her religious beliefs, and her employer granted the exemption last month. The case raises questions about whether religious objections to AI could prompt similar workplace accommodation requests.

When Pope Leo XIV wrote about the effect that AI is having on our world in his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, he may not have imagined the document being referenced in an HR environment. But, according to a report by Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/worker-got-religious-exemption-using-ai-at-work-2026-6 , Erin Maus, a software developer in North Carolina, used the Pope’s message about the need for vigilance in how AI would be deployed to gain a special exemption from her employer about using the technology for coding. Maus is not even a Catholic but a Unitarian Universalist, according to the report. However, it said, she maintained that the use of AI didn’t align with her religious beliefs. Business Insider said that to make her case, she consulted an employment lawyer — a move to be expected — and her local chapter’s minister — which probably wasn’t. Her wishes were reportedly granted last month. “I’m writing my code and reviewing my code by hand, which seems crazy to say,” she told the publication. She’s certainly not alone in wondering whether AI is always the way forward for techies: a journalist at PC World https://www.pcworld.com/article/3148596/pope-leo-made-me-rethink-how-i-use-ai.html has also been rethinking its use after reading the encyclical. It remains to be seen whether this will be the spur for a torrent of claims from Catholic workers, asking to be freed from the demands of using AI or whether Business Insider’s report is an outlier.