George L. Taylor · The Living Book
Delegation isn’t
the danger.Abdication is.
AI can do more for us. What should we still decide for ourselves?
New essay · George L. Taylor · November 11, 2026
United and the Reality of AI Delegation
The gap between finding a flight and finishing the job.
United’s restrictions on unauthorized AI agents expose the limits of delegation today. After all the approvals, handoffs, and checks, how much of the job has an assistant actually taken off our hands?
Read the essay on Substack
More from George L. Taylor
Who Will Be Qualified to Overrule the Machine?
If AI does the work that once trained junior employees, where will tomorrow’s experts get the practice to catch its mistakes?
Explore what organizations can do today to develop people with the knowledge and authority to challenge AI tomorrow.
Read the essay on SubstackThe question behind the book
What must
remain ours?
Think about a child using AI for homework, a doctor reviewing a computer’s recommendation, or a business letting software handle customer complaints. Each situation raises the same question: who checks the work, who can step in, and who answers when something goes wrong?
01Who owns the decision?
02Who has the authority to intervene?
03Who must answer for the result?
A living argument
The evidence changes.
The book can, too.
New developments are reviewed daily. Substantive changes enter the Living Book after George’s approval, with a record of what changed and why.
The last-updated date moves when the text changes. The Amazon editions remain dated snapshots.
Explore the change historyLatest revision
The airline has a say in what you can delegate
The traveler can authorize an assistant, but the airline decides which booking channels it accepts. The assistant should establish where the traveler must take over.