Navigating Religious AI Exemptions in the Workplace: What HR Needs to Know
Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, published in May 2026, added a religious dimension to global conversations about safeguarding human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence.
Other faiths have also been actively navigating AI’s role in the workplace. The Southern Baptist Convention issued a 2023 resolution on AI, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints added sections on appropriate use of AI to their General Handbook in 2025. Other institutions offer a range of guidance: the Dar al-Ifta banned AI-based Quran interpretation, the Union for Reform Judaism advocates applying the heuristic kvod (respect), and rabbis continue to debate AI usage on Shabbat (hint: it depends!).
We interviewed employees and HR professionals to understand how they perceive AI at work right now—and how they feel about the emerging concept of religious AI exemptions. The results reveal a workforce that’s curious but cautious, and HR teams that are largely unprepared for the requests that may soon come their way.
Key takeaways
- Awareness is low, but curiosity is high: Most employees haven't heard of religious AI exemptions, but they are broadly tolerant of coworkers who might request them.
- For HR, the deciding factor in granting an exemption often comes down to one question: Can the employee still do their job without AI?
- Skepticism is a compliance risk: HR leaders are largely skeptical of religious AI accommodations—this can be a red flag for discrimination issues down the road.
- An established process is key: It’s especially important to have a good accommodations process that both HR and managers are educated on.
What is a religious AI exemption at work?
A religious AI exemption is a kind of religious accommodation in the workplace. Under existing US law, a standard framework for religious accommodations applies:
- Is the belief sincerely held?
- Does it conflict with a workplace requirement?
- Would granting it impose undue hardship on the employer?
The first AI religious exemption in the US was granted in 2023 to a Unitarian tech worker who claimed her employer’s AI usage expectations conflicted with her church’s teachings on climate stewardship.
For many employees, the concept is entirely new. When introduced to the idea during our interviews, reactions ranged from blank unfamiliarity to piqued curiosity.
This low baseline awareness is important context for HR leaders. Right now, this is a topic that needs to be explained and contextualized before opinions can even be formed. However, as AI becomes more deeply integrated into daily workflows, employees may increasingly question their participation in systems they believe conflict with their moral or religious values.
What do employees think about AI exemptions?
Most employees we spoke with said they personally would not request a religious exemption from using AI. However, these same employees were largely tolerant of others exercising this right.
“It’s not just AI,” one project manager pointed out, “We have somebody at work who is a Hasidic Jew and they can’t be on camera or in any meetings that are recorded.” For their team, this accommodation has changed the way they communicate: “I know that once a meeting is going to be recorded, that person will leave.”
Across interviews, a common refrain was that employers should respect the request, provided the employee can still perform their job. But for those who would consider a request, confidence is conditional. Employees worry about job security, being labeled as “difficult,” or getting passed over for advancement if they opt out of using company-mandated AI tools.
How HR professionals are reacting
When we asked HR professionals how they would handle a religious AI exemption request, their responses fell into three main camps.
Willing to honor, but policy-less
Many HR pros want to grant these exemptions in the spirit of respecting employees, but they acknowledge a glaring gap: They have no formal policy in place. They plan to rely on standard accommodation processes but admit they are flying blind.
Skeptical to dismissive
Some HR leaders are highly skeptical. While established religious accommodations (e.g., Sabbath observance for Hasidic Judaism or Seventh-day Adventists) are seen as legitimate precedents, extending exemptions to AI-related tasks is viewed as creating an unfair workload imbalance.
I think it's important to vet these kinds of requests through internal review channels. I would probably also reach out and see how our peer institutions are handling them and see if our approach matches theirs.
Sr. HR Director | Healthcare
Nuanced pragmatism
The most thoughtful HR pros focus on practicality. For them, the key determining factor is integration. “If somebody can do their job without the use of AI, there’s no reason to penalize them,” HR professional said, “but if they can’t do their job because it’s so integrated into the company’s tech stack, that’s a different conversation.”
Most importantly, HR pros want to be sure they’re approaching religious AI exemptions the way they would any other religious (or non-religious) accommodation request. They want to consider precedent, not just whether it seems reasonable at face-value.
What is the scope of work in which the employee has to interact with AI? And can the job be done without AI?
Employee Relations Manager | Manufacturing
What HR can do now
Understand the broader landscape of religious accommodations
Across both employees and HR pros, a consistent theme emerged: The lack of a legal framework creates anxiety and confusion.
Without clear policies or established case law to lean on, requests are open to misinterpretation and misuse. Many of the HR teams we surveyed are currently left “Googling a lot” to find legal guidance, court rulings, and benchmarking data against peer companies.
But it’s critical to understand the broader landscape of religious accommodations at work, the process of asking for and granting accommodations, and the process of renewing accommodations. It’s especially worth noting that recent Supreme Court rulings signal a climate heavily in favor of religiously observant groups, and workers in particular.
The fact is, an accommodation request made today won’t necessarily have the same outcome as one made five years down the road.
Accommodations get revisited. You need to think critically about what's an actual undue hardship today versus a potential hardship in the future.
Cynthia Doi | Principal HRBP | BambooHR
Keep up-to-date on evolving AI legislation
The Pope’s encyclical may have raised new questions about religious accommodations, but countries and jurisdictions around the world are rapidly developing legislation as the technology evolves. In the US, proposed state legislation highlights that labor rights concerns about AI extend beyond just using (or avoiding) it at work.
Initial debates about the ethical implications of AI use typically focused on water usage and mass layoffs, but as AI becomes more embedded in society, questions about AI gain more nuance. For example, while the concept of fractional employees (part-time employees augmented with AI) sidesteps flat-out replacing workers with AI, it certainly raises more questions about sustainability.
From California’s “No Robo-Bosses” bill—which would prohibit the use of autonomous AI in PIPs, terminations, and other critical employment decisions—to restrictions on the data centers that power AI models (in Georgia, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and New Hampshire, to name a few), it’s clear that concerns about the social, environmental, and economic impacts of AI are beginning to take legislative shape.
As more regulations are introduced, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on evolving AI legislation that may impact your HR policies, business structure, and team morale.
Make a plan
AI isn't going away, and the ethical questions surrounding it will only grow more complex. Here are a few ways HR and leadership teams can prepare for religious AI exemption requests before they arrive:
- Assess your tech stack. Identify which roles absolutely require AI to function and which roles simply use AI as a supplementary tool. Knowing this distinction is critical when evaluating “undue hardship” during an accommodation request.
- Draft a preliminary policy. Work with your legal team to outline how your standard religious accommodation framework (sincerely held belief, conflict with work requirement, undue hardship) applies specifically to AI tools.
- Train managers on empathy and emotional intelligence. Ensure your frontline managers know how to handle these requests with respect and curiosity, rather than immediate dismissal.
- Create a culture of psychological safety. Employees who are anxious about AI need to know they won't be penalized for simply raising ethical or religious concerns.
The future of work requires us to navigate not just new technologies, but the deeply human beliefs of the people using them. By preparing now, HR can position itself as a trusted, expert advisor for both your business and your people.
Methodology
This report is based on qualitative research conducted by BambooHR exploring workforce trends and attitudes toward artificial intelligence. The study included interviews and sentiment analysis from both employees (18) and HR professionals (16) regarding the intersection of AI use and religious accommodations in the workplace across a variety of demographics, company sizes, and industries.
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