Human Approval Should Be a Control Point, Not a Bottleneck
Human approval fails when it arrives too early, too late, or without enough context. A person clicks “Approve” on a request they cannot properly inspect. The agent then acts on changing information. The control exists on paper, but it does not meaningfully control the action. A better design is simple: let the agent prepare the work, but pause before it creates a commitment the business cannot easily reverse. Consider an AI agent preparing a supplier payment. It can collect the invoice, match it to a purchase order, check the requested amount, and prepare the transaction. That work is low-risk and mostly reversible. The payment itself is different. It moves money and creates an external commitment. That is where the agent should stop and show: What it plans to do Which systems and records it used Why the action crossed the approval threshold What could change if the action is delayed Who is authorized to approve it The approval should be attached to that exact proposed acti...
