Safety, Ethics & Governance · beginner · concept 267 of 311 · Updated Nov 4, 2026
Human in the Loop
Human in the loop means a person reviews, corrects or approves an AI system's work at chosen points. It is how you get the speed of automation while keeping accountability for decisions that matter. The hard part is design: reviewers who approve everything out of habit provide no protection, so review must be focused where errors are costly.
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Key terms
Approval stepsAutomation biasEscalationFeedback loopAccountability
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Medical reads, loan decisions, content moderation, agents that send messages or spend money
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