Erin Maus, a 34-year-old software engineer from North Carolina, has become one of the few individuals to receive a religious exemption from using artificial intelligence (AI) at work. She argued that AI's environmental impact and ethical implications conflict with her beliefs as a follower of the Unitarian Universalist faith. After weeks of preparation, including consultations with an employment lawyer and her local minister, Maus successfully convinced her employer to grant her exemption in May. This arrangement allows her to manually write and review software code, a practice that was standard in the industry until the recent surge of AI tools. The case highlights a growing debate on AI's role in the workplace, especially as many companies are encouraging AI use and monitoring its implementation. The discussion has gained urgency following Pope Leo XIV's recent warnings about the unchecked expansion of AI, which he argues could undermine human dignity and individual agency. His statements have prompted legal experts and HR professionals to consider whether employees can seek religious exemptions from mandatory AI usage under U.S. employment law, which requires employers to accommodate religious requests unless it poses undue hardship to the business.