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The Madison Avenue Field GuideA field guide to marketing & advertising, by Brandon Mina

GlossaryAI in MarketingHuman-in-the-Loop (HITL)

AI in Marketing

Human-in-the-Loop (HITL)

A workflow where people review, approve, or correct AI outputs or agent actions before they take effect.

By Brandon MinaCEO, BrandPilot AIUpdated November 2026

Short answer

Human-in-the-loop (HITL) is a workflow design in which people review, approve or correct AI outputs or agent actions before they take effect. It combines automation's speed with human judgment, and is common for high-stakes marketing tasks such as publishing content, changing budgets or contacting customers.