Human-in-the-Loop
Also known as: Human review, Human approval
Definition
Human-in-the-loop design keeps accountable people inside AI workflows for review, approval, exception handling, and quality control. It is especially important for customer-facing, financial, legal, employment, regulated, or brand-sensitive outputs.
Human review is not a weakness. It is the design pattern that lets a business use AI where judgment, trust, or risk matters.
Over time, review can become more selective as the workflow proves quality.
Related terms
- AI Agent — An AI system that can take multiple steps toward a goal, often using tools or systems, inside defined permissions and review boundaries.
- AI Governance — The rules, owners, review standards, and escalation paths that let a company use AI safely and consistently.
Where this gets applied
- Process Documentation — Sales process, customer success playbooks, technical runbooks, financial close calendars, hiring rubrics.
- Project Recovery — Stalled programs unblocked. We've rescued $13M and $3M Fortune 500 initiatives in under 30 days.
- Compliance & Security — SOC 2, CMMC, FedRAMP, security baselines for post-acquisition standardization.