in the loop

Idioms  

1. Provided with information and included in a decision-making process. For example, She's new to the board, but be sure to keep her in the loop. This expression uses loop in the sense of “a circle of individuals among whom information or responsibility circulates.” The antonym out of the loop, meaning “left out of such a circle,” dates from the same period. For example, The chairman was consistently leaving Chris out of the loop. [1970s]

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Example Sentences

The input data must be trusted, the AI tools must be transparent, and a human needs to be in the loop.

From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026

He expected the episode would be “a huge shock for people” who are fans of the show, with only a small circle of “NCIS”-related folks in the loop before Tuesday night.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026

“As we see numerous companies reach commercialization of fully autonomous solutions … we expect humans to remain in the loop in several ways,” Rusch added.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026

Palantir, unlike Anthropic, does not support a blanket ban on autonomous weapons, but says there should be a "human in the loop".

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026

"You need to be in the loop," Venkat said.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir