Guides
Human in the loop: when AI agents should ask for approval
A simple rule for deciding what runs on autopilot and what needs a person to say yes.
Key takeaways
Let agents act alone when a mistake is cheap and easy to undo.
Ask for approval when money, customers or access are involved.
Escalate whenever the agent is unsure, not only when rules say so.
Review approvals regularly and loosen the rules as trust grows.
A simple rule for deciding what runs on autopilot and what needs a person to say yes. We use it on every Saasyio workflow, and it fits on a sticky note.
The two questions
For every action an agent could take, ask two questions. How bad is it if this is wrong? And how easily can we undo it? Low harm and easy to undo means autopilot. High harm or hard to undo means a person approves first.
Renaming a file or tagging a ticket: autopilot.
Sending a customer a reply: draft, then approve, until the drafts earn trust.
Issuing a refund or changing access: always approved by a person.
Deleting data: never automatic.
Design the approval, not just the rule
Approvals fail when they are annoying. A good approval shows what the agent wants to do, why, and what it will change, and offers a one-click yes or no. If a reviewer has to open three tabs to decide, they will start approving blindly.
Teach agents to say "I am not sure"
Rules cover the cases you thought of. Confidence covers the rest. We ask agents to escalate whenever they cannot explain their decision against a rule, or when the request looks different from anything they have seen.
The best agent is not the one that never asks. It is the one that asks at the right moments.
Loosen the rules over time
Start with approval on everything that matters.
Track how often reviewers change the agent's proposal.
When a category is approved unchanged almost every time, move it to autopilot.
Keep a weekly sample for review, even after you move it.
Trust grows from evidence. Every approval you review is data that lets you give the agent more room, safely.
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