It is 3:30 AM, and my cat is looking at me like he is seriously questioning why either of us is awake.
Fair question, Fritz.
My pre-coffee routine tends to involve scrolling through the news and posts that showed up overnight.
I came across one this morning and immediately thought:
"OMG. That's what I've been saying!!!"
Fritz remained unimpressed.
The post was talking about the importance of keeping humans involved as AI becomes more capable. I obviously agree with that.
But that is not really why I am writing this.
What caught my attention was the term Human in the Loop.
I think my belief in that idea goes deeper than governance, approvals, and making sure an AI does not run off and accidentally order 4,000 office chairs.
Those things matter.
But to me, Human in the Loop means embedding the human into the entire process.
It means AI is not something you occasionally hand a task to.
It becomes part of your work team.
You think together. You gather information together. You develop ideas together.
The human brings judgment, experience, curiosity, context, humor, and purpose.
The AI helps extend those things.
That is also part of what you are starting to hear people describe as personal agents.
Here is what that looked like for me this morning.
I asked Jemmia to save the article under a project titled Content. That is where I keep my post ideas. I also asked her to save a few notes and thoughts I had while reading it.
She saved everything and came back with a few additional ideas of her own.
Then Fritz and I decided I needed coffee.
Before making the 4:00 AM coffee, I asked Jemmia to go through all the Readwise posts I have saved and see whether I had collected anything else that supported the idea.
For that part, I used my Noodle MCP Gateway.
The Gateway makes it easier for her to work across the tools and information I have already connected, while still giving me control over what she can access, what she can do, and where the information goes.
That adds governance to the process.
But the real value was what happened next.
Jemmia brought back a handful of related posts and connections I had forgotten about.
Then I worked with her using that information to create a rough draft for a longer Substack post that will explain the process in a little more detail.
That entire workflow started with me reading something at 3:30 in the morning while my cat judged my life choices.
The AI did not replace the human.
The human did not simply approve something at the end.
We worked through the process together.
That is why I believe Human in the Loop needs to become something bigger.
Human in the process.
And here is the business part hiding underneath the 3:30 AM coffee situation.
This is not just a nice philosophy about keeping people involved because it sounds responsible in a conference room.
There is real ROI here.
Microsoft and LinkedIn's 2024 Work Trend Index found that 75% of knowledge workers were already using generative AI at work, and that employees say AI saves time, boosts creativity, and helps them focus on their most important work. McKinsey's research on the economic potential of generative AI also estimated that current generative AI and related technologies could automate work activities that take up 60 to 70% of employees' time.
That does not mean the goal is to replace the person.
It means the person gets more shots on goal without turning into a content vending machine with a calendar problem.
This morning, one idea became a blog post. Then it became a Facebook share, a LinkedIn company post, a LinkedIn personal post, and more. Each one had a different angle. Each one was targeted for the place it was going.
Same idea.
Same voice.
Same brand.
More production.
Less drag.
That is the value.
That is the ROI.