The whole point of AI agents is automation. They do things so you don't have to. But "doing things" in production — deploying code, modifying data, sending emails, processing payments — has consequences. And the moment you let an AI act without oversight on something that matters, you've transferred all the risk to a system that doesn't understand risk.

Human-in-the-loop (HITL) is the bridge. Not every action needs approval. But the ones that do need a structured, fast, auditable approval workflow. Not "ping someone on Slack and hope they respond."