Decide Where Human Judgment Must Remain Primary

AI can expand attention and analysis without becoming the accountable decision-maker. The design question is not whether a human appears somewhere; it is whether human judgment remains meaningful where it matters. This decision connects to Build an AI Strategy That Starts With Business Value and Turn Company Priorities Into an AI Opportunity Portfolio, which provide the strategic direction and portfolio context. Use this four-part leadership framework Consequence — Increase human authority as financial, safety, employment, legal, or customer impact rises. Ambiguity and values — Retain judgment when facts conflict or values and context determine the right action. Evidence and time — Give reviewers sources, uncertainty, alternatives, and enough time to intervene. Challenge and learning — Provide appeal, override, escalation, and review of recurring disagreements. A practical decision example An AI system may organize complaint evidence and suggest a response, but a trained employee decides remedies and commitments. The customer can reach a person, and overrides improve future evaluations. This is a hypothetical example; use your own baseline, constraints, and evidence. Evidence, governance, and responsible use Use the NIST AI Risk Management Framework to connect the initiative to governance, context, measurement, and ongoing management. The companion NIST AI RMF Playbook turns those functions into questions leaders can assign and review. The GAO AI Accountability Framework is useful for examining governance, data, performance, and monitoring across the system life cycle. Compare the plan with the OECD AI Principles, particularly transparency, robustness, accountability, and respect for people affected by the system. For generative AI, review the NIST Generative AI Profile and test representative cases using OpenAI’s evaluation guidance. Use the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications to discuss application threats before a model can access sensitive information or take actions. Check performance statements against the FTC’s guidance on AI claims, and review information handling with the FTC’s privacy and security resources. For a broader organizational management approach, study the ISO/IEC 42001 overview. Take this to the next leadership meeting List important decisions and assign one level: AI supplies information, drafts, recommends, acts with approval, or acts inside a narrow reversible rule. Name the accountable person. Record the owner, evidence source, decision date, and what would cause the company to stop. The goal is not to make the document look complete. The goal is to make the next decision explicit, measurable, and accountable. Continue with Build an AI Vendor Scorecard for Executive Buyers. Use Run a Quarterly AI Portfolio Review: Keep, Fix, Scale, or Stop to revisit the decision with current evidence.