Human-in-the-Loop
A risk-control approach in which a human is integrated within an AI system's decision-making process.
Why it matters
The phrase is used to describe arrangements ranging from per-action approval to quarterly sampling, which makes it nearly useless without a stated interval. The governed quantity is the gap between decision and review, not the existence of a reviewer.
What it is not
These are routinely confused with Human-in-the-Loop. The distinctions are not pedantic — each one has consequences for how a system is governed.
HITL places a human inside the loop before action. Override is the ability to reverse after it.
HITL is discretionary and continuous. Kill criteria are pre-committed and automatic, and specifically remove discretion.
Relationships
Typed edges into the rest of the ontology. These are what make the canon traversable rather than merely readable.
| Verb | Target | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
addresses | Oversight | The subject speaks to the object as a question or concern. |
relatedTo | Human Override | An association too weak or too general for a stronger verb. |
Record
| Canonical identifier | QIS-TERM-00013 |
| Status | Canonical industry term |
| Adoption | Widely used |
| Domain · Layer | Oversight · Governance |
| Origin | Defined in the AIEOG Shared AI Lexicon (February 2026), adapted from NIST. |
| Semantic aliases | None recorded. |
| First published | 2026-08-02 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-08-02 · 180-day cycle |
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