Every AI product sits on a spectrum from "suggests next action" to "achieves outcomes independently." The mistake is choosing the wrong point on the spectrum for what the user trusts the system to do today. Too much autonomy too early breaks trust; too little leaves value on the table.
The five rungs
1. Inform: the system surfaces relevant information. 2. Suggest: it proposes specific actions. 3. Draft: it executes, awaiting approval. 4. Act with audit: it executes and logs; the human reviews after. 5. Act autonomously: it executes within bounded authority, escalates exceptions.
How to choose the right rung
Match the rung to two things: how reversible the action is, and how much the user has watched the system succeed at the rung below. Reversible actions can ship at higher rungs sooner. High-stakes irreversible actions stay at lower rungs longer. Earned autonomy outperforms claimed autonomy every time.
The shipping pattern that works
Launch at suggest. Watch the suggestions get accepted. Promote to draft when acceptance is high. Add act-with-audit for the boring, repeatable cases. Expand the act bounds slowly, with explicit user opt-in. The product matures up the rungs, in lockstep with trust.