In manufacturing, mastery is never granted—it’s earned. For centuries, skilled trades have followed a progression: apprentices learn under supervision, journeymen take on greater responsibility, and masters prove their craft to earn autonomy. The same logic should guide how we give agentic AI its agency.
Unlike traditional copilots that merely advise, agentic AI perceives, plans and acts. It doesn’t just raise a flag when a machine falters—it can reroute production, reorder parts and adjust schedules in real time. That kind of autonomy promises enormous upside: faster decisions, fewer disruptions and higher productivity. In an industry where time is money, the rewards are undeniable.
But so are the risks. An AI agent with system-level access is a new attack surface. Behavioral drift can turn a helpful assistant into a rogue operator. And when things go wrong, the question of who’s accountable becomes more than theoretical.
This is where leadership comes in. The decision to give AI agency is not binary, it’s a spectrum. Start with agents as apprentices: supervised, bound and explainable. Allow them to grow into journeymen that are trusted with more responsibility, yet still within oversight. Only then do they become masters capable of working in parallel, collaborating with other agents and delivering outcomes at enterprise scale.
Crucially, having a human in-the-loop is more than just a guardrail. It is the source of institutional knowledge. It is tribal expertise, context and judgment that transforms AI from a fast learner into a trusted partner. Humans don’t just prevent mistakes; they teach the system why decisions are made. Over time, that knowledge compounds into an enduring competitive advantage: intelligence that is not only faster, but wiser.
The lesson for executives is simple. Agency must be earned, not assumed. Guardrails, governance and knowledge transfer are the foundations of trust. The companies that get this balance right won’t just automate processes; they’ll preserve their institutional wisdom and scale it across every plant, every line and every decision.
Manufacturing may be the proving ground, but every industry will soon face the same choice of just exactly how much agency to give their AI and how to ensure that agency reflects human wisdom rather than replaces it.
