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In a strongly-worded rebuke last month, Pope Francis called for AI to be “disarmed.”
The criticism comes amid rapidly growing backlash to the tech, with countless workers becoming frustrated after being forced to use AI, even when the productivity benefits it offers are questionable.
Now, a 34-year-old software engineer named Erin Maus, who works for a tech entertainment company in North Carolina, may have found an ingenious workaround. As Business Insider reports, Maus has secured a religious exemption effectively allowing her to skip using AI for her work.
Maus is a Unitarian Universalist, a pluralistic religion that’s rooted in the inherent worth of every person. In April, she argued that AI didn’t align with her religious beliefs, citing environmental and ethical concerns.
In mid-May, her employer granted her the unusual accommodation.
“I’m writing my code and reviewing my code by hand, which seems crazy to say,” she told BI. “Just two years ago, how else would you do it?”
While Maus may not be a member of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis’ most recent calls for stronger AI controls highlights a growing schism between religious beliefs and the broad intrusion of AI into everyday life.
That’s not to mention the very real concerns over increased pollution and rampant water usage, environmentally damaging side effects that have raised plenty of non-faith-based objections as well. The opposition, particularly against data centers, has grown into a major bipartisan issue.
Netizens were amused by Maus’ religious exemption.
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