When Pope Leo XIV wrote about the effect that AI is having on our world in his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, he may not have imagined the document being referenced in an HR environment.
But, according to a report by Business Insider, Erin Maus, a software developer in North Carolina, used the Pope’s message about the need for vigilance in how AI would be deployed to gain a special exemption from her employer about using the technology for coding.
Maus is not even a Catholic but a Unitarian Universalist, according to the report. However, it said, she maintained that the use of AI didn’t align with her religious beliefs.
Business Insider said that to make her case, she consulted an employment lawyer — a move to be expected — and her local chapter’s minister — which probably wasn’t. Her wishes were reportedly granted last month. “I’m writing my code and reviewing my code by hand, which seems crazy to say,” she told the publication.
She’s certainly not alone in wondering whether AI is always the way forward for techies: a journalist at PC World has also been rethinking its use after reading the encyclical.
It remains to be seen whether this will be the spur for a torrent of claims from Catholic workers, asking to be freed from the demands of using AI or whether Business Insider’s report is an outlier.
Maxwell began writing about technology in 1984, when mainframes ruled the world. Since then he has written for just about every business computing title in the UK, and for a few in the US, covering everything from Artificial intelligence to Zero-day exploits and all points in between. He has also been editor-in-chief of several award-winning titles, including Network Week, Techworld, and Cloud Pro, and a regular contributor to Whatsonstage.com. In his spare time he coaches a junior rugby team.
