AI agents should not operate blindly. Some actions are low risk, such as searching documentation or summarizing a ticket. Other actions can affect customers, money, compliance, or production systems. Those actions need approval gates.
Human approval does not mean the agent is useless. It means the agent prepares work and a responsible person confirms the final step. This is often the right model for ticket updates, record changes, customer communication, refunds, permissions, and operational workflows.
Design approval around risk. Read-only tools may run automatically. Drafting a response may require review. Updating a CRM record may require permission checks. Triggering a production action may require a stronger workflow.
Every action should have an audit trail: who requested it, what the agent saw, what tool was called, what changed, and who approved it. This makes the system easier to debug and safer to operate.
The goal is practical automation, not uncontrolled autonomy. Good agents make teams faster while keeping business control visible.