Term
Human in the loop
Human in the loop means a named person holds an authority ceiling and a review gate. It is not a human glancing at a dashboard. The human charters the work, can stop a tool call, and owns the outcome. If no one can fail the output against written criteria, the loop is decorative. A vendor slide that says HITL without a named reviewer is a slogan. The name, the ceiling, and the fail criteria have to live in the runbook, not in the deck.
When to use it
Use it when a vendor slide says “HITL” and the runbook has no named reviewer. If the output can ship while that person is offline, the loop is already broken.
Do not confuse with
Not a dashboard watcher and not a weekly steering committee. The loop is a named person who can fail the output against written criteria before it leaves the building.