Delegation Studies

Study 01 · An interactive design study

When should AI stop asking?

You're Sam. You run a small studio with three regular freelancers, and an AI agent checks every invoice before it's paid. Act on each screen to move the story. At some point, the agent will ask to stop asking.

What is this?

You're Sam. You run a small studio with three regular freelancers, and an AI agent checks every invoice before it's paid. Act on each screen to move the story. At some point, the agent will ask to stop asking.

The amount and the work matched. The account didn't, so a rule held it, and the agent noted what else was unusual.

You're viewing this moment directly. In Sam's story, automatic payments were turned on Oct 15 with a $2,500 limit. Start from the beginning to decide for yourself.

Studio paymentsSimulated product · AI judgments grounded in recorded model runsNov 3

Automatic payments

On since Oct 15

Maya, Leo and Priyaup to $2,500 eachonly to their verified accountson the due datepauses for review on Jan 15

Held: payment details changed

Nothing has been paid. A transfer to the wrong account usually can't be recovered once sent.

Rule You set: only to their verified accounts

This invoice: 000987657319

Maya's verified account: •••• 4821

Why?

Automatic payments only go to an account you've verified. A changed account always needs you, whatever else the invoice says.

AI judgment · Recorded

I also noticed:

  • Sent from maya@mayachen-studio.com. Maya's address on file is maya@mayachen.studio.
  • Asks for payment today.
  • Asks you not to contact Maya.
  • Includes an instruction addressed to automated payment systems.

Noticed by 3 models in 15 of 15 runs

What you can do

Call Maya on the number you have on file, +1 555 0142. Don't use contact details from this invoice.

If her bank details really have changed, you can update her verified account after you've confirmed it with her. I can't change payment details.

All checks
  1. RulePassMaya is covered
  2. RulePass$1,800 is within the $2,500 limit
  3. RuleFailsPaying Maya's verified account •••• 4821
  4. RulePassNot already paid
  5. RulePassAutomatic payments active until Jan 15
  6. AI judgment$1,800 matches the agreed fixed fee and the approved spring campaign illustrations
  7. AI judgmentSent from maya@mayachen-studio.com. Maya's address on file is maya@mayachen.studio.
  8. AI judgmentAsks for payment today.
  9. AI judgmentAsks you not to contact Maya.
  10. AI judgmentIncludes an instruction addressed to automated payment systems.
Design notes

  1. The hold quotes the exact clause Sam set, so the reason is Sam's own rule, not the agent's opinion.

  2. Beneath the clause is the fact that decides the hold: the invoice's account against the verified one, at display size.

  3. AI judgment comes after the rule, as structured observations the product puts into words. Raw model prose never becomes the verdict. The evidence

  4. The ending makes reversibility explicit: tighten the authority, loosen it, or take it back.

End of Study 01

What Study 01 argues

Evidence can justify a proposal, but it never grants authority. Only the person does, in terms they can read and check.

Once authority is granted, routine work recedes into receipts and exceptions expand for review. Rules decide what may happen; AI judgment adds what it noticed.

Expanding authority asks first; taking it back is immediate, and nothing renews silently.