Start with the decision type
Choose deterministic rules when the conditions are known, testable and safety-critical. A warehouse eligibility policy is a better fit for a rules engine than a free-form language model.
Use AI for uncertain information
Document interpretation, text classification and explanatory summaries are well-suited to AI assistance—provided confidence, source evidence and fallback policies exist.
Use agents for bounded investigation
An agent becomes useful when it must gather evidence across tools, reason over competing hypotheses and propose a multi-step action. Limit its scope and require explicit permission for consequential actions.
Measure reliable outcomes
Measure cycle time, error rates, manual touches, reversals, and actual cost—not just how many model calls ran.
Putting the guidance into practice
Start by documenting the process and defining what counts as a successful, reversible and auditable result. Agree on permissions, decision ownership and operational metrics before activating the workflow.
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