How Much Supervision Should Companies Give AI Agents?
Harvard Business
JANUARY 15, 2026
AI agent autonomy is a conundrum. In many cases, supervision is needed in the form of a human in the loop to avoid disaster. Yet, you lose productivity gains if you impose excessive supervision on your agent. Too little latitude, and the agents capabilities are constrained to answering simple questions. Too much autonomy, and brand, reputation, customer relationships, and even financial stability are at risk.

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