Automation can look efficient while quietly overwriting the choices people already made with care.
The practical check
Before automating an approval, identify what human-curated work could be changed, how a person can opt out, and how a mistaken change can be restored.
Where AI fits
AI can surface records at risk, prepare a preview, and identify candidates for human review.
The human decision
People approve changes to curated work and retain control over opt-out and restore decisions.
The lesson
Automation should preserve curated work by showing what could change, offering a real opt-out, and leaving a clear path to restore a mistaken change.
Preview, opt-out, and restoration for curated records are documented in the Build Log companion.
AI Skills
Use this lesson with the AI assistant you already use
Create a preview, opt-out, restore, and human-approval checklist.
Paste the prompt, share only the context needed to answer it, and treat the result as a draft for your review. Do not include confidential information or let an AI assistant make changes without your approval.
Optional: for a visual report and saved memory, run /dxdev first.
Don’t have it? Get it at dxdev.com/skills/dxdev. The prompt works without it.
dxdev LESSON · paste into your AI agent
LESSON: Protect Curated Work From Automation
WHAT TO SHARE:
A de-identified description of the work, current evidence, and the decision you are considering.
ASK YOUR AGENT TO:
1. Separate confirmed facts from assumptions and unanswered questions.
2. Create a preview, opt-out, restore, and human-approval checklist.
3. Identify the narrowest useful next review step.
RETURN:
A short table with the evidence, uncertainty, human-owned decision, and next action.
BOUNDARY: Do not change records, contact anyone, route work, publish content, or act in an external system. A person must review the evidence and approve every consequential step.
