# Human-in-the-Loop (HITL)

> Source: https://netray.co/glossary/human-in-the-loop
> Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems.
> Section: Glossary

## Short answer

Human-in-the-loop (HITL) is a design where an AI system proposes an action, such as creating a purchase order, and a person reviews and approves it before it executes. It keeps accountability with people while automating the preparation work.

## Aliases

- HITL
- human approval
- human in the loop AI

## Category

on-prem-ai

## Full Definition

AI agents are good at gathering data, drafting and recommending, and unreliable at being right every time. In an ERP, a wrong action can post a journal, release a job or commit a purchase. HITL places an approval step between the agent's proposal and the write, so mistakes are caught before they become transactions.

A typical pattern is read freely, write by approval. The agent can query inventory, demand and supplier data without a gate. When it wants to change something, it creates a draft: a requisition in your ERP's own approval workflow, a proposed reschedule with before and after dates, or a prepared journal entry. A named person sees what will change and why, then approves, edits or rejects.

Approval gates should match risk. Low-value, reversible actions such as adding a note can be automatic with logging. Financial postings, supplier commitments, quality dispositions and anything touching regulated records need explicit sign-off, often by someone with the matching ERP role.

Good HITL design avoids approval fatigue. If people click approve on hundreds of items without reading, the control is empty. Batch similar items, show the evidence and the diff, and track rejection rates so you know where the agent needs improvement.

## Why It Matters

- Keeps a named human accountable for changes, which auditors and SOX or quality systems expect.
- Limits the damage from model errors and prompt injection.
- Lets teams adopt AI in stages: suggest first, then automate the actions with a proven low error rate.
- Builds trust, which decides whether people actually use the system.

## In Practice

An agent reviews MRP action messages each morning and finds 14 purchase orders to reschedule. It writes a proposal for each with the old date, new date, the demand driving it and the supplier's stated lead time. The buyer approves 11, edits 2 dates and rejects 1. Only approved changes are posted through the ERP's API under the buyer's user, and all 14 decisions are logged.

## Faq

### Does human-in-the-loop defeat the point of automation?

**Answer:** No. The agent does the slow part: finding, comparing and drafting. The person only decides, which is usually seconds per item instead of minutes.

### What should always need approval?

**Answer:** Financial postings, supplier commitments, quality dispositions, changes to master data and anything touching regulated records. Start strict and relax only with evidence.

### Which user should the action run as?

**Answer:** The approving person, so ERP permissions and audit trails reflect who authorised it, not a shared service account.

### How do I avoid rubber-stamping?

**Answer:** Show the evidence and the exact change, batch similar items sensibly, sample-check approvals, and review rejection and override rates regularly.

## Search terms

human in the loop ai, hitl ai agents, ai approval workflow erp, ai write back erp, agent approval gate, responsible ai manufacturing, ai audit trail, supervised ai agent

---
Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json