Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Don’t Want to Use AI at Work? Tell Your Boss It Goes Against Your Religion.

You can thank Pope Leo.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

If you’re taking a firm stance against using AI in the workplace, the pope, of all people, might just have given you the perfect cover in the form of a religious exemption.

Last month, Pope Leo XIV issued a massive, strongly worded 42,000-word screed about how AI could undermine human dignity and decimate the human workforce if left unchecked. He even called for AI to be “disarmed.”

According to Business Insider, 34-year-old software engineer Erin Maus decided to test how far religious protections might stretch in the AI era. Maus works for a large tech-entertainment company in North Carolina. She’s a Unitarian Universalist. In April, she formally requested a religious accommodation to opt out of using AI, citing a series of ethical objections to the technology, including concerns about........

© Vice