Human in the loop

Human in the loop is a design in which an automated or AI-driven process pauses for a person to review, approve, or correct an action before it takes effect.

The phrase is often used loosely for any screen a human looks at. A control only counts if the process cannot proceed without the person, and if the person can see what they are approving well enough to refuse it.

Approval fatigue is the practical enemy. A system that asks for sign-off on everything trains people to click through, which produces the audit trail of a control and none of its effect. Fewer, better-scoped approvals hold up under pressure.

An approval should also be bound to the exact version it was given for. If the underlying content changes after sign-off, the approval should not silently carry over to the new version.