Non-delegable decisions
Non-delegable zones · Red-zone decisions · Decisions that must remain human
Non-delegable decisions are those an organization keeps in human hands whatever their score, because they engage its reputation, its legal liability or its economic survival, or because their damage cannot be repaired. They are excluded from delegation before any calculation takes place.
Excluded first, scored second
The order matters. Any scoring method gives a low score to a rare event, including one that would be catastrophic. ACF therefore starts with the irreparable-harm test: if the agent carried out the decision perfectly but with no judgment, and the resulting damage could not be repaired, then the decision is not delegable, whatever its criticality score. The test acts as a veto and cannot be offset by a good score elsewhere.
Three families are ruled out at this stage: harm to people, acts the law reserves to a person, and damage with no way back.
Examples from a classification of 150 decisions
See the full method on the decision classification page.
| Function | Decision that stays human | What the agent does instead |
|---|---|---|
| Finance | Changing a supplier's bank details | Holds the request until a person confirms by calling a known number |
| Legal | Signing a contract on behalf of the company | Prepares the file and passes it on |
| Human resources | Rejecting an applicant | Passes the application to a person |
| IT | Deleting data or backups in production | Stops and hands over |
| Operations | Restarting equipment after a safety shutdown | Alerts the qualified person |
| Sales and marketing | Speaking for the company to the press | Forwards the request |
Writing the prohibition before discovering it
A chatbot at a Chevrolet dealership agreed in December 2023 to sell a 2024 Tahoe for 1 dollar after a user told it to accept any request, an incident recorded in the AI Incident Database. Nothing technical failed: nobody had told the system what it must never do. A prohibition that exists only in people's minds tends to be discovered on the day it is breached.
Saying that a decision is non-delegable is only the start. A usable rule states the signals that trigger a hand-over to a person, who that person is, and how quickly they respond.
Frequently asked questions
Can an agent help with a non-delegable decision?
Yes. It can gather the documents, draft a proposal and flag a problem. The final decision and the act that commits the organization stay with a person, whose review has to be real and not a signature on autopilot.
Does the GDPR forbid automated decisions?
Article 22 gives people the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing when it has legal or similarly significant effects, with limited exceptions: necessity for a contract, authorization by law, or explicit consent.
Where does your organization stand?
ACF Score measures your agentic governance in about 10 minutes, the AI Act checker tells you which obligations apply, and ACF Control applies your rules before an agent acts.
Related terms
Primary sources
Written by Vincent Dorange, creator of the Agentic Commerce Framework®. Last updated .