Engineer says AI violates her faith, and her employer grants a rare opt-out

A North Carolina software engineer is drawing attention after receiving approval to opt out of using AI tools on religious grounds, an unusual exception at a time when many employers are increasingly encouraging — or requiring — workers to adopt the technology.

The case comes as workers debate whether AI is truly helping employees or simply introducing new ethical, environmental, and legal concerns.

What happened?

According to Futurism, Erin Maus is a 34-year-old software engineer at a North Carolina tech entertainment company who said her Unitarian Universalist beliefs were at odds with using AI on the job because of its ethical and environmental implications.

Futurism reported that her employer approved the accommodation in mid-May.

The decision stood out because AI is increasingly being treated as a workplace expectation, even as skepticism about the technology continues to grow.

Although Maus is not Catholic, her request came not long after Pope Leo urged that AI be "disarmed," adding a prominent moral critique to concerns already spreading about the technology's rapid expansion into everyday life and workplace routines.

San Francisco-based startup founder Corey Quinn chimed in on the situation, sharing a post on X: "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."

Why does it matter?

The case could offer a blueprint for other employees who object to AI use on religious grounds.

Denying such requests could also create legal risk.

Concerns about AI also extend to the hardware behind it, with large data centers drawing scrutiny over pollution and water consumption.

Maus, according to Futurism, said that working without AI was just as fast as a colleague's AI-assisted workflow, saying that "AI doesn't really seem to be this game changer."

"I'm writing my code and reviewing my code by hand, which seems crazy to say," she said. "Just two years ago, how else would you do it?"

As Futurism shared, workplace discrimination specialist John Meehan told Business Insider that employers "might have to promulgate some rules about this very quickly," adding, "If I were one of the bigger defense-side employment firms, I'd be doing that right now."

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