An AI agent can read invoices, triage tickets and update records all day. The question is not whether it can act, but which actions should wait for a person.
Sort steps by cost of a mistake
Reading and summarising are cheap to get wrong. Paying, deleting or emailing a customer are not. The second group needs approval.
Make approval quick
A person should see the agent’s reasoning, the source document and a one-click approve or reject — not a new task to investigate.
“The goal is not an agent that never asks. It is an agent that asks about the right things.”
Log everything
Every action, approval and correction is recorded, so you can see what the agent did and tighten the rules over time.
Start with the agent asking more often than you think necessary. Loosen the rules only when the log shows it is safe.