Definition
Human Governance is the AAOE principle that AI agents may inspect material, propose classifications, draft documents, and prepare engineering work, but a human maintainer reviews and approves decisions before they become accepted, merged, released, or published. Authority may be delegated to AI for execution, but never for governance.
Why It Matters
AI accelerates engineering, but it does not replace engineering judgment or accountability. Human Governance keeps architecture, approval, and accountability with accountable people regardless of how capable AI becomes — it is the principle that makes AI-assisted engineering safe to scale.
Related Concepts
- AI-Assisted Engineering
- Architecture Review
- Responsibility
- Validation
References
- ADR-0004 — Human Governance of AI Contributions
- STD-0008 — Human-Governed Engineering
- STD-0011 — AI-Assisted Engineering
- ARCH-0002 — AI Agent Reference Architecture