Delegation

Overview

Discrete Delegation: AI performing assigned tasks while the human drives the work

• Discrete Delegation describes a way of working in which the human drives the work and the AI performs the tasks assigned to it. The human decomposes the work, briefs each task with the parameters required, and judges the outputs. Decision-making and direction stay with the human; the AI carries responsibility for completing each task well.
• The pattern suits well-bounded work where success criteria can be stated cleanly in advance: redlining a clause, summarising a source, formatting outputs, constructing a chart from agreed data. Each task may itself involve substantial cognitive work (research, analysis, drafting), but the AI's contribution is bounded to the scope of the task it has been given.
• Delegation runs lighter than Partnership, where the AI participates in the thinking. It also differs from Agency, where the AI initiates from inside a standing mandate rather than waiting for per-task handoffs from a human. The defining feature is the discrete brief-respond-review cycle, with the human keeping a hand on the work as a whole.