Man granted first-of-its-kind religious exemption against mandatory AI use at work

David Durman, a research administrator at the University of Kentucky (UK), has successfully argued that using AI violates his beliefs as a humanist and has received Title VII religious accommodation from university officials not to use the technology. According to the Religion News Service (RNS), Durman believes in "the human part of life," which includes making his own decisions. However, he says that when the UK asked its employees to use AI, he felt that doing so would mean outsourcing his thinking to tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, thus violating his deeply held beliefs.

“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 in an interview. “And offloading that labor, regardless of whether it’s taxing or not, is undercutting my ability to be a moral actor.” Because of this, the research administrator was granted a Title VII exemption under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. While humanism is often a non-religious philosophy or a worldview, federal courts have ruled that it qualifies as a religion.

The American Humanist Association (AHA) assisted Durman with his request for the accommodation. “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,” AHA staff attorney Alexandria Huiskens said to RNS. She also added, “For us, humanism is a comprehensive way of life. It’s built on inherent worth and dignity, and everyone should have room to exercise this comprehensive way of life at work the same way Christians do, or Muslims do.”

It should be noted that while anyone can request a Title VII exemption, it will only be granted if the applicant has a deep moral conviction that could count as an article of faith. Aside from that, the law also states that the request should not place an “undue hardship on the employer’s business.” So, even though Durman is no longer personally required to use AI tools for his tasks, he is still expected to attend meetings and cooperate with colleagues who use AI or to submit materials to AI tools, as needed.

AI use in corporate settings has been one of the biggest questions ever since LLMs exploded in popularity with ChatGPT. While AI proponents have said that the technology would increase productivity multiple times, reports say that corporate America, except for Big Tech, is not seeing any financial returns. Even so, about half of all U.S. employees now use AI one way or another at work, even as many executives remain uncertain about AI’s return on investment. But as for Durman, he says that the fact that Americans are already thinking about the impact of AI is a good thing, and that he hopes that his story would help others who’d rather not be forced to use the technology.

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