The Human Approval Gate: A Practical Guide to Keeping a Person at the Decision Point in AI-Assisted Work

The Human Approval Gate Kit is a practical educational resource for defining who checks an AI-assisted output before it can affect real work. Its CLEAR test asks whether the consequence is held, a qualified reviewer is listed, defined evidence is checked, accept, revise, reject, and escalate outcomes are available, and the decision and recovery path are recorded.

Version 1.0.2 includes a practitioner guide, printable worksheet, facilitator notes, source Markdown, ten synthetic test cases in CSV and JSON, a JSON Schema, citation metadata, a CC BY 4.0 license notice, checksums, and a complete ZIP. Every example is synthetic.

Version 1.0.2 makes the existing Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license visible where a reviewer first encounters each resource. The practitioner guide carries the full license name, CC BY 4.0 identifier, and canonical license link on its cover. The worksheet carries the same notice on its only page. The method, responsible-use limits, public source foundation, synthetic example, worksheet fields, facilitator exercise, and ten synthetic test cases are unchanged. Versions 1.0 and 1.0.1 remain preserved.

This is an original practical educational resource grounded in public NIST and HHS sources and an author-designed method. It does not report empirical research or validated findings. It is not a standard, certification, legal advice, clinical guidance, or a guarantee. It must be adapted to the laws, contracts, privacy rules, security controls, professional duties, records requirements, accessibility needs, and organizational policies that apply. NIST, HHS, GitHub, Zenodo, and CERN do not endorse the resource or its author.

OpenAI Codex assisted with research organization, drafting, data structuring, production checks, and the Version 1.0.2 license-visibility correction. Keith Staggers reviewed and approved the complete Version 1.0.2 release and accepts responsibility for this record. AI is not listed as a creator or contributor.