The Pope’s AI Warning Could Help Workers Seek Religious Exemptions From Using AI
The Pope’s AI Warning Could Help Workers Seek Religious Exemptions From Using AI
Publish Date: 2026-06-06 07:00:00
Source Domain: gizmodo.com
- Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical on AI, titled “Magni fica Humantas”, criticizes AI for dehumanizing society and calls for a slower adoption of AI in favor of responsible care for humanity.
- Erin Maus, a software engineer and Unitarian Universalist, successfully secured a religious exemption to avoid using AI at work due to environmental and ethical concerns, before the pope’s remarks were made.
- As companies continue to increase investment in AI and pressure employees to use the technology, the pope’s encyclical may motivate others to seek exemptions based on religious beliefs.
- According to Gallup, the share of employees in the U.S. who use AI at work has risen from 21% to 40% in 2025, which could create more instances of employees requesting religious exemptions.
- Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers must accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs unless it causes an “undue hardship” to the employer; the pope’s encyclical could provide legal backing for such requests.
- The precedent set by Rex Healthcare’s settlement over a vaccine mandate highlights the potential for religious exemption claims based on the pope’s AI-related arguments.
