---
Title: "What Is Human in the Loop (HITL) AI?"
Url: "https://computer.io/glossary/human-in-the-loop"
Topic: "AI safety"
Description: "Human in the loop (HITL) means people review, approve or correct AI decisions at key points. How HITL works for AI agents, with examples."
---

# What is human in the loop (HITL)?

Human in the loop (HITL) is an approach where people review, approve or correct an AI system's work at key points, for example approving a refund an AI agent proposes or reviewing low-confidence answers, combining AI speed with human judgment and accountability.

## Patterns

| Pattern | Example |
| --- | --- |
| Approval | Agent requests sign-off before acting |
| Review | Sample of answers checked |
| Escalation | Low confidence → human |
| Feedback | Corrections improve the system |

## When to use HITL

High-risk actions, regulated decisions, new deployments and low-confidence cases.

## Human on the loop

Humans monitor and can intervene rather than approving every step.

## FAQ

### Does human in the loop slow automation?

For risky steps yes, but low-risk tasks can run autonomously.

### What is human on the loop?

People supervise and intervene rather than approve each action.

### Is HITL required for compliance?

Some regulations require human oversight for certain AI decisions.

## Related terms

- [AI guardrails](https://computer.io/glossary/ai-guardrails)
- [Asynchronous authorization](https://computer.io/glossary/async-authorization)
- [Autonomous agent](https://computer.io/glossary/autonomous-agent)
- [How do you keep humans in the loop with AI agents?](https://computer.io/answers/how-to-keep-humans-in-the-loop-with-ai-agents)

## How Computer helps

- [How computer works](https://computer.io/how-computer-works)

## Further reading

- [Build enterprise ai agents](https://devrev.ai/blog/build-enterprise-ai-agents)