Oversight
Oversight is the human review a piece of work requires, declared by what the work is, never by what an agent can do.
Oversight is the human review a piece of work requires, set on each Function by what the work is. Autonomy rises with every model release; oversight stays where the law and real harm put it.
Three separate axes
Autonomy belongs to the Agent: what it may do alone, earned by evals. Oversight belongs to the work: what review it needs before or after delivery. Digital share belongs to the product: how much of it a person delivers.
The axes move independently. An Agent at full can still produce work a licensed Human must sign. Better models raise autonomy and leave oversight where it was.
Postures and reasons
| Posture | What the reviewing party does |
|---|---|
none | Nothing beyond automated review. |
spot-check | Samples finished work after delivery. |
review-on-exception | Reviews what an Evaluator or Guard flags. |
approves | Approves each output before it is delivered. |
performs-step | Does one step in person, such as a Reserved Act. |
Every posture above none names its reason: regulatory, high-stakes, physical or consumer-harm. A capability gap is never a reason. Evals handle capability, and they fall away as models improve.
Who reviews, and when
The reviewing party is the Customer by default. Where the law or the stakes demand more, it is a professional holding the right Credential, paid by the customer. A Studio Role reviews only in rare cases, such as work the Studio itself guarantees.
Timing follows the buyer. A b2b buyer gets review before delivery, in sync with the work. A b2c product gets review after delivery, by sampling the whole population of outputs.
Oversight across operating models
The posture never changes with the operating model; who fills the reviewing seat does. An Autonomous Startup routes credentialed review to an outside professional through Licensed review. A Multi-human Startup can seat its own licensed staff in the same step.
In practice
A Licensed-human marketplace sells certified translations of court documents. Agents translate at full, and the certification is a Reserved Act with posture performs-step and reason regulatory. A sworn translator the customer pays signs each one, while the marketing pages on the same Site carry posture none.