Human in the loop
Also: human-in-the-loop, human review
A design where a person reviews or approves what the AI does before it counts.
The fuller definition
Human in the loop means a process includes a person's judgment or authorization at specified points, such as reviewing a draft before an external action.
- Proposal
Inspectable result
- Review
Check evidence and scope
- Action
Proceed only as authorized
A simplified relationship, not a screenshot or a complete design.
A concrete example
A proposed rename map is reviewed before a separate operation changes any filenames.
The distinction that matters
A review step is useful only if the person has enough evidence, time, and authority to catch or stop errors.
Related terms
Approval gate
A point in an automated task where it must stop and wait for a person to say yes.
Reliability & securityEvaluation (eval)
Testing an AI tool on a set of tasks to see how well it actually does.
Agents & automationWorkflow
A fixed sequence of steps a task goes through, which may include AI steps and human checks.
Where it is taught
Prompts, skills, workflows, and agentsSource and further reading
Anthropic · Building effective agentsThe definition and example are written for this library. The link gives background, official documentation or legal authority as labelled. Legal scope depends on the jurisdiction and current text; product features depend on release and settings.