AI Agents ....Red Light / Yellow Light / Green Light ?
🚦 Red Light / Yellow Light / Green Light on AI Agents What clicked for me this week wasn’t a new tool it was a boundary. I started treating AI agents like super-smart interns: great with direction, risky with authority. Here’s how I’m sorting common tasks right now: 🟢 Green Light — synthesis & prep AI agents supporting thinking, not deciding: Summarizing customer feedback, call notes, or long email threads Weekly or daily digests (Slack, inbox, CRM notes) Turning messy notes into outlines, briefs, or agendas Spotting patterns in surveys, reviews, or usage data First-pass drafts (emails, SOPs, content outlines) Research compilation with sources grouped for review 🟡 Yellow Light — assist, then review Helpful with human oversight: Prioritizing support tickets or inbox messages Drafting responses that still need tone/context checks Light personalization for outreach using non-sensitive data Trend comparisons or scenario modeling with assumptions defined Workflow suggestions when the process is mostly—but not fully—clear QA checks (flagging inconsistencies, missing fields, anomalies) 🔴 Red Light — authority, trust, and risk Hard no for me right now: High-stakes financial decisions or approvals Executing payments, moving money, or committing funds Handling sensitive personal data (financial, medical, identifiers) Uploading spreadsheets without anonymizing names/details Legal judgments, compliance calls, or final strategy decisions Automating a process I don’t yet understand Adding an agent when it would slow me down vs. just doing the thing Once I separated analysis from authority, AI agents stopped feeling risky and started feeling exciting because the decision came first. Curious: what’s one task you’re clearly giving a green light right now? And one that’s a red light you’re choosing to protect?