Humanist wins first Title VII religious exemption from AI

David Durman, a research administrator at the University of Kentucky, has been granted a Title VII religious accommodation that lets him refuse to personally use AI tools at work, in what the American Humanist Association calls the first case of its kind. The university's Office of Equal Opportunity approved the request on September 25, 2026, and the AHA publicized it on October 26, Tom's Hardware reported.

Durman identifies as a humanist and objected to using "Microsoft Teams Co-Pilot, ChatGPT, and Claude," arguing that outsourcing cognition to such tools would "interfere with his critical thinking skills." In his own words: "The process and work involved in thinking through situations...is a key component in being able to develop myself as a moral person."

The accommodation is partial. The university determined that Durman could "avoid personally using AI in his work, although he would still have to attend meetings or submit materials through platforms that use AI."

"This is the first of its kind at the AHA and for humanism generally," said AHA staff attorney Alexandria Huiskels, the organization's lead on the request.

Federal courts have long recognized humanism as qualifying for religious protection despite its non-theistic nature, which is what makes Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the operative law here. Per FindLaw's write-up, the Supreme Court's 2023 Groff v. DeJoy decision requires employers to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so creates "substantial burden to the overall organization." The matter resolved without litigation through the University's Office of Equal Opportunity.