Approvals and exceptions
Threshold breaches, unusual cases, and ambiguous decisions still need explicit human judgement.
Human-in-the-loop
Keep humans wherejudgement matters.
Human-in-the-loop is the discipline that makes automation usable. Agents move the repeat work. Humans keep control over policy, exceptions, customer commitments, and trust.
Do not automate blindly
Keep the judgement.Automate the repetition.
The right split is not ideological. It is operational. Humans stay where the cost of a bad automated decision is highest.
Customer commitments
The promises the company makes to users should not be left to default automation behavior.
Release decisions
Someone still has to decide when the workflow is safe enough to put in front of the business.
Review as design
Make human reviewpart of the system.
The human loop should be explicit, fast, and attached to the workflow instead of handled as an afterthought in chat.
Get started"The question is not whether humans stay in the loop. The question is whether the loop is designed well enough to keep the system trustworthy."
Mach122Trust model
Agent path → Review gate → Decision → Learn
Decision trace volume
Top workflow topics
- Renewal discount exception35
- Vendor approval threshold29
- Contract handoff precedent23
- Access escalation path17
Decision log
| Workflow | Decision | Review gate |
|---|---|---|
| Renewals | Discount exception approved after service-impact precedent | Finance |
| Procurement | Vendor threshold exceeded and routed to VP approval | Ops |
| Access ops | Escalation path updated after policy exception review | Security |
Context Graph workbench
decision_trace: renewal_discount_exception
entities:
account: acme_enterprise
renewal: fy26
policy: discount_policy_v3_2
inputs:
- crm: enterprise_arr
- slack: vp_approval_thread
human_gate: financeHow the loop works
Handle the repeat path.Escalate the judgement path.
A good human-in-the-loop design makes the escalation path obvious and low-friction so the team keeps trust without slowing everything down.
Read the request
Use agents to summarize the case, gather context, and propose the likely path.
Detect the threshold
Mark the conditions that require a human instead of guessing through them.
Route to a decision
Put the case in front of the right human with the evidence already assembled.
Capture the precedent
Feed the decision back into the system so the next similar case is easier to handle.
Need a trust model
Bring the workflow.We’ll define the loop.
Human-in-the-loop design is the right place to start when the team wants automation but cannot afford vague responsibility.
Best fit
Approval-heavy processes, risky workflows, customer-facing operations, and systems where the exception path matters as much as the happy path.