The short version

An agent should not send every possible issue directly to a person. It should first use approved evidence to resolve straightforward cases, then route only unsupported, ambiguous, contradictory, or approval-dependent items.

The review loop

Design the workflow as:

  1. Detect: identify a possible factual, policy, completeness, or classification issue.
  2. Verify: check trusted sources and deterministic rules.
  3. Resolve: clear or correct routine issues when evidence is conclusive.
  4. Escalate: send the remaining judgment-heavy cases to the accountable reviewer.

Each resolved item should retain enough evidence to explain why it was cleared or changed.

Why this matters

A simple flagging system moves the first-pass burden to humans. A verification stage reduces noise and allows reviewers to concentrate on consequential decisions. The design preserves human judgment while removing avoidable review work.

Example

For a customer-facing report, Claude identifies unsupported claims and policy-sensitive wording. It checks the approved source set, clears claims directly supported by evidence, proposes routine wording fixes, and sends only unresolved or approval-required items to the named reviewer.

The agent must never invent evidence to shrink the queue. If the source set cannot resolve the question, that uncertainty is itself part of the escalation.

Define the human gate

Auto-resolution requires a clear rule and trusted source. Human review remains appropriate for interpretation, conflicting evidence, material exceptions, and actions that require accountable approval.

Practical checklist

  • Define what should be detected.
  • Limit verification to approved sources.
  • State the evidence threshold for auto-resolution.
  • Preserve the supporting reference.
  • Name the conditions that require escalation.
  • Route the case to an accountable owner.
  • Track false positives and refine the detection rule.

Try it

Choose a workflow where people review every flag. Define the trusted source set, auto-resolution rule, human gate, and evidence record. Estimate how much of the queue could be resolved without weakening accountability.