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Strategy

The Case for Human-in-the-Loop

Why aiming for 90% automation is often the 100% correct business decision.

A common ambition is "fully autonomous" systems that operate without human oversight. While inspiring, this goal can sometimes yield diminishing returns in the short term.

The Pareto Principle applies aggressively to AI: The first 90% of use cases are often solvable with straightforward engineering. The last 10% (the "Long Tail" of edge cases) require exponentially more effort to automate reliably.

The Challenge: The high cost of perfecting the "Last Mile."

Attempting to handle every possible exception with AI alone can lead to fragile prompt logic and delays in deployment.

Recommendation: Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) as a Feature.

We advise designing systems that confidently automate the high-volume clear cases, and gracefully hand off uncertain cases to a human expert. This allows you to launch faster with effectively 100% system reliability, as the AI handles the bulk work and humans handle the nuance.