AI automation governance
Automate workflows without losing sight of authority, review, and consequence
Sentient governs the AI-enabled workflows your teams automate: which steps run on their own, where a person must review, and what is recorded as the work runs.
For teams putting AI into approvals, routing, document handling, and customer communications, where a wrong output can reach a customer, a record, or a payment.
01
- Build
- Deploy
- Govern
Corporate AI and automation teams
Automated workflows still need an owner and a record.
Teams need to develop and deploy AI-enabled workflows without losing visibility into permissions, human review, evidence, change authority, and runtime control.
Sentient defines and helps operationalize the governing layer around that work. We build tools that enable your builders to innovate safely and securely.
Teams keep shipping automations, and the company can still show what each one is allowed to do.
What every governed workflow answers
- Who owns the workflow and its outcomes
- Which steps are automated and which stay with a person
- What the workflow is authorized to change, send, or decide
- Where a result must be reviewed before anyone relies on it
- What is recorded at each step
Governed workflows, not autonomous agents
02
- Authority
- Review
- Escalate
- Record
Automated workflow governance
The control points in a governed workflow.
Sentient builds authority, review points, evidence requirements, and escalation paths into the workflows and tools your teams already run, so governance is generated as the work happens instead of added as another task.
01
Workflow inventory and ownership
Which automated workflows exist, which AI systems and vendors they rely on, and who owns each one.
Systems and dependencies
02
Operational authority
What each workflow is permitted to read, change, send, or decide, and which actions stay with a person.
Authority boundaries
03
Human review points
Where judgment remains necessary, who can approve or intervene, and how consequential decisions are recorded.
Human review
04
Escalation
Which conditions route work to a person, who receives it, and what they are authorized to decide.
Control paths
05
Automated evidence capture
Records captured as the workflow runs: what happened, which systems and versions were involved, and what was reviewed.
Evidence structure
06
Change authority
Who can change a workflow, its prompts, models, or data sources, and how each change is assessed and recorded.
Change traceability
03
- Friction
- Flow
- Proof
Governance as workflow automation
Turn governance from a blocking function into workflow automation.
Workflow governance fails when it sits outside the workflow.
Governance as a blocking function
Governance built into the workflow
Governance as a blocking function
Approvals chased by email after the work is done.
Governance built into the workflow
Review points built into the workflow and routed to the person with authority to approve.
Governance as a blocking function
Evidence assembled by hand when someone asks.
Governance built into the workflow
Evidence captured automatically as the workflow runs.
Governance as a blocking function
Exceptions handled informally.
Governance built into the workflow
Escalation paths that bring the right decisions to the right people.
Governance as a blocking function
Changes shipped without a record.
Governance built into the workflow
Defined change authority, with changes to prompts, models, and data assessed and recorded.
Governance as a blocking function
Controls described only in a policy.
Governance built into the workflow
Control points defined in the governance design, with the runtime mechanisms that should enforce them identified.
When review and evidence are part of the workflow, teams adopt the controls instead of working around them.
04
- Automate
- Govern
- Delegate
Two directions, one structure
Automate governance. Govern automation.
The automation that runs the work can also run its governance: routing approvals, capturing evidence, and keeping workflow records current.
Governed automation keeps consequential activity inside defensible boundaries.
When a workflow starts acting on its own, with its own tools and delegated authority, it needs agent governance: identity, permissions, revocation, and accountable human ownership. That work is covered under AI agent governance.
05
- Workflow
- Review
- Record
Questions, answered
AI automation governance, answered.
What is AI automation governance?
AI automation governance sets who owns each AI-enabled workflow, which steps run on their own, where a person must review, what the workflow may change or send, and what is recorded as it runs.
Where should human review sit in an automated workflow?
Before an output reaches a customer, a record, or a payment, and wherever judgment is still needed. The reviewer needs the authority to approve, change, or stop the result, and the review itself is recorded.
How is automation governance different from agent governance?
Automation governance covers workflows that follow defined steps. Agent governance applies when a system chooses its own actions with its own tools and delegated authority, which adds identity, permissions, and revocation.
AI agent governanceCan governance itself be automated?
Yes. The automation that runs the work can also route approvals, capture evidence, track exceptions, and keep workflow records current. That lowers friction, so teams follow the controls instead of working around them.
06
- Discuss
- Design
- Implement
- Operate
Be ready before they ask
Build the operating structure before the next customer, investor, insurer, partner, or buyer demands proof.
Sentient builds the governance structure companies need to show how AI is owned, controlled, reviewed, evidenced, and operated. Talk to Sentient about what your customers, investors, insurers, partners, or buyers will expect to see.