- A Kentucky man has won a religious exemption against using AI
- The ruling says he no longer has to use AI tools at work
- The man argued AI contravened his deeply held religious beliefs
If you’ve ever looked to the heavens in exasperation after being told you have to use AI at work, your prayers might soon be answered, if a Kentucky man’s example is anything to go by. That’s because he’s just been granted a “first of its kind” religious exemption from using AI after successfully arguing that it went against his beliefs.
As reported by the Religion News Service (via TomsHardware), University of Kentucky research administrator David Durman reacted with apprehension when his employer started asking its workers to use AI in their day-to-day jobs. The problem for Durman was that this would mean offloading his thinking to a machine — something which, as a humanist, went against his principles.
“The process and work involved in thinking through situations, through my work, through my ethics, through the way I handle other people, is a key component in being able to develop myself as a moral person,” Durman told RNS. “And offloading that labor, regardless of whether it’s taxing or not, is undercutting my ability to be a moral actor.”
For Durman, AI also has the potential to harm society. He stated that he advocates for and believes in human flourishing, but that “At a societal level, I think that the use of AI technology runs counter to that.”
Your belief must be sincere
Durman won his religious exemption with the help of the American Humanist Association (AHA), with AHA attorney Alexandria Huiskens saying that “This is the first of its kind at the AHA and for humanism generally to exempt those who see AI use as flying in the face of their freedom of conscience.”
Durman and the AHA based their argument on Title VII, a US federal law that grants workers exemptions in their work requirements due to religious beliefs. Although humanism — which places an emphasis on human virtue and agency — is generally considered to be non-religious, federal courts have ruled that it can be treated as a religion.
The University of Kentucky accepted Durman’s appeal, meaning he no longer has to use AI at his place of work. He does still have to meet and cooperate with his colleagues who use AI, however.
If you think this might be a quick ticket out of using AI, though, there’s a catch. Douglas Laycock, an emeritus law professor at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas, noted that your professed beliefs have to be sincere to qualify under Title VII, so you can’t just pick a religion and say that using AI violates its tenets if you don’t actually subscribe to that belief system.
Still, for those who do hold sincere religious principles and feel that AI contravenes them, there could be a new way to dodge those mandatory AI workflows whenever you head into the office.
Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.