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All glossary terms

AI governance

Human-in-the-loop approval (HITL)

Human-in-the-loop approval (HITL) is a workflow in which a person reviews or authorizes a system action before it proceeds. The person’s role, information, authority, and ability to reject or change the action determine whether the review is meaningful.

Also known as HITL, human approval.

Why it matters in practice

A human checkpoint can add judgment where automated confidence or policy checks are insufficient, but it can also become routine clicking if context is poor. Teams should define when review is required, what evidence is shown, and how decisions are recorded. Human approval does not guarantee that the action is correct or lawful.

Example

A Hyperproxy firewall HITL rule holds a request for dashboard review so an operator can approve it before the sensitive upstream action proceeds.

Educational note

This definition is general information, not legal advice. It may omit facts that matter to a specific situation and does not establish or guarantee compliance.