"Offloading thinking undercuts my ability to be a moral actor": US university worker wins exemption from using AI at work
First seen on X 6 hours ago@Dexerto ♥ 8,6926 views
"Offloading that labor, regardless of whether it's taxing or not, is undercutting my ability to be a moral actor," David Durman, 45, a research administrator at the University of Kentucky, told Religion News Service. Dexerto's X post about him passed 8,900 likes on Oct. 30.
According to Dexerto, Durman was granted a religious accommodation on Sept. 25 so he doesn't have to use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft Copilot at work. He is a secular humanist. With help from the American Humanist Association he applied under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects sincerely held beliefs, and the university found that letting him work without AI would not burden his department. He also cited AI's environmental impact, job losses and threat to creativity.
There are conditions: he still attends meetings involving AI, works with colleagues who use it and may submit materials to AI-powered systems. TechCrunch reported AI wasn't mandatory in his role; he sought protection after colleagues and leaders encouraged trying it. The association says it is a first for humanists; software engineer Erin Maus earlier got similar protection on Unitarian Universalist grounds.
Dexerto also cited a Harvard study suggesting AI can make employees work harder. Replies were light: "finally a religion i can get behind" (390 likes) and "dude got a religious exemption to keep using his own damn brain" (203). The outlet said the ruling doesn't mean anyone can opt out.
“A man has been granted a religious exemption allowing him to avoid using AI at work David Durman argued that outsourcing his thinking to AI goes against his deeply held…”
