I heard a scary story from an operations leader who’s rolling out AI with their team. They connected a new “sales assistant” to their customer database and marketing tool. Within minutes, the agent interpreted a routine request, “follow up with dormant prospects,” as “email everyone.” It queued a message to 7,000 contacts, including current customers under active contracts and a few who were mid-negotiation.

The email message? A generic discount offer that would have violated two NDAs and undercut a live deal.

There was no malware. No hacker. Just an over-eager AI assistant put into place by the team with broad access and zero approvals by a human.

The leader looked shaken: “If this had gone out, we’d be cleaning up for months. Are we crazy to keep trying to use AI?”

Not crazy, just missing the human guardrails that make AI safe and useful.

As my mamá used to say to me,

“Confía, pero amarra tu burro.” (Trust, but tie up your donkey.) 

Embrace the upside, but keep your hands on the wheel: teach your AI agents with examples, limit what they can access, and require a quick human “yes” before any message is sent.

THIS WEEK'S INSIGHTS:

• AI can’t replace humans because it learns from us. The best systems get better when people show them examples of “what good looks like,” give clear instructions, and set boundaries.
• Your edge isn’t just using AI, it’s teaching and supervising it. People who pair with AI will outpace people who don’t.
• The path forward: move from fear to practice. Design the human roles, approval points, and paper trails first, then add more autonomy.

TRENDS:

• “Prompt basics” are becoming standard. Teams are writing simple, shared instructions to ensure results are consistent across individuals.
• Human checkpoints are back. Leaders are inserting a quick “Are we sure?” moment anywhere AI can send a message, spend money, or change a system.
• Governance is getting practical. Simple, role-based routines from the NIST Generative AI Profile are becoming weekly habits, rather than policy shelfware.

MYTH-BUSTER TIPS:

Myth #1: “AI will replace humans.”

Reframe: AI learns from humans. When people provide examples and clear guidance, systems become more useful and safer. That’s the whole point of human feedback research, like this one: Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback.

What to do: Pair your best people with your most valuable workflows. Capture 10 “gold-standard” examples and use them to teach the system.

__________

Myth #2: “No human in the loop = maximum efficiency.”

Reframe: Removing humans speeds things up until it speeds up a mistake. Attackers can “trick” assistants with sneaky instructions, leading them to share information or take actions you never approved (see the OWASP Top 10 for LLMs (2025)).

What to do: Add a quick human checkpoint for anything that can send, spend, or change systems. One click to approve or deny and save the decision as proof.

__________

Myth #3: “Buying a ‘secure’ suite means you’ve bought security.”

Reframe: Compliance is a receipt, not a lock. Real security is a routine: clear roles, limited access, approvals, and a paper trail. The NIST Generative AI Profile offers a simple map.

What to do: Name the person who owns behavior (instructions, examples) and the person who owns operations (approvals, logs). Review controls monthly and publish results.

TOOLS TO EXPLORE

This week, try the following framework and Prompts to Steal to help you take action. These will help stay ahead of the curve.

Humanloop
What it does: A workspace to design and improve AI workflows, store your instructions, track versions, collect feedback, and route items for human review.

Insider tip: Start with a super-simple feedback form (“Useful / Not Useful” + two tags). Collect 50 real examples before you start tweaking instructions.

Langfuse
What it does: A “flight recorder” for your AI. It shows what was asked, what the assistant did, and how it performed so that you can measure and fix issues.

Insider tip: Pick one success signal (e.g., “approved without edits”). Attach it to every run and only alert when that number dips.

Guardrails AI
What it does: A safety net that makes outputs follow your rules. For example, “answers must be in this format,” “never include personal data,” or “keep it under 200 words.”

Insider tip: Start strict. Set a basic format (like a short checklist), add 2–3 concrete rules, and only add nuanced checks later to keep things fast.

Prompts to Steal

Steal these prompts and use them in ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, or your company-approved platform. Doctor them up with your context.

• “Turn these 10 best examples into a clear instruction page and a simple reviewer checklist. I want the checklist in 5 bullets with pass/fail items.”
  
  
• “Before taking any action, draft a one-page ‘Approval Card’ that lists the steps you plan to take, the information you’ll touch, potential risks, and a one-click approve/deny summary for the record.”
  
  
• “Look at the last 25 actions this assistant took. Give me three numbers: approval rate, top three mistakes, and the exact wording change that would have prevented each mistake.”

POWER TIP:

Think hotel keys, not master keys. Assign each AI task its own unique key that only unlocks the rooms it requires, and test it on a practice floor before allowing it access to the real building.

Your move this week:

• Name your humans: one owner for how the assistant behaves (instructions, examples) and one owner for how it runs (approvals, logs).
• Create 10 examples: ask a top performer to provide 10 “this is what good looks like” samples for a single task; use these to teach and evaluate the system (see the human-feedback research above).
• Add one control: choose one habit from the NIST Generative AI Profile: clear roles, change logs, or incident drills, and run it end-to-end for that task.
• Ditch the “master key”: give each AI assistant a limited key for just its job, and test in a safe practice area before connecting to live systems.

👉🏽 Which single workflow will you teach and put behind a human checkpoint this week?

CLOSING THOUGHT

Don’t get replaced, get involved. 

The people teaching AI how to work are the ones who keep their seats!

Teach the system.

Keep the checkpoint.

Ship the agent with receipts.

¡Hasta la próxima, un abrazo fuerte!
(Until next week, a big hug!)

Monica Marquez

When You're Ready...

Here’s how I can help you and your organization take your leadership and professional growth to the next level:

Speaking: I deliver engaging, high-impact keynotes and workshops on AI-driven leadership, personal branding, career advancement, and transformation. Whether it's a corporate event, leadership summit, or industry conference, I bring practical insights and strategies that empower professionals to thrive in today's rapidly evolving world.

AI Workforce Readiness Consulting: I partner with organizations to design and implement learning experiences that drive real impact. From AI-powered change management programs to leadership reinvention for the new AI workplace, I help companies advance their workforce and create growth opportunities for high-potential professionals.

Did a brilliant friend forward this your way? Subscribe here to get ¡AY AY AY, AI! delivered fresh every week...straight to your inbox, con todo y sazón! Don’t get left behind.

How did you like today's newsletter?

🔥 Loved it! It was insightful.

🤔 Decent read, but could be better.

😐 Meh, it didn't resonate with me this time.