Forum Discussion
JohnNaguib
Feb 09, 2026MVP
Human-in-the-Loop: Where Copilot Agents Should (and Shouldn’t) Act Alone
In the fast-evolving world of artificial intelligence, the term “Copilot agent” has become almost ubiquitous. These intelligent assistants—whether guiding developers in code completion, helping custo...
SeanSW
Feb 16, 2026Copper Contributor
Additional Considerations for HITL Design
- The "Invisible" Human Cost: Acknowledge that HITL systems often shift work onto human reviewers in unseen ways. "Reviewer burnout" is real when AI hands off too many ambiguous cases. Always measure and optimize the human experience of the loop, not just the AI's performance.
- Explainability is Non-Negotiable: For HITL to work well, humans need to know why the AI made a suggestion. A confidence score alone isn't enough. Add brief explanations (e.g., "Flagged due to keyword X" or "Similar to past case Y") to speed up human review and build trust.
- Start Small, Then Expand Autonomy: Don't aim for full autonomy on day one. Begin with all decisions in "human review" mode, use that time to gather data and build trust, and then gradually raise the confidence threshold for automation as performance proves itself.
- Plan for the "Out of Loop" Human: When AI handles most tasks, humans can lose situational awareness. Ensure reviewers see periodic random samples of AI-only decisions to maintain oversight and catch subtle drift the AI might miss.