AI engineering glossary · Agents tools MCP
What is escalation?
Escalation: Handing a case from an agent to a human, or to a more capable agent, when the request is beyond its abilities, risky, or the user is unhappy. Clear escalation rules keep an agent from bluffing on things it cannot handle.
Escalation: an example
A support bot escalates to a human when a customer mentions a legal complaint or asks for a manager three times.
Related terms
More Agents tools MCP terms
- Evaluator-optimizer pattern
- Fallback
- Generative agents
- Grounding (agents)
- Guardrails for agents
- Human-in-the-loop
- Human-on-the-loop
- Idempotency (tool calls)
Where you learn it
Escalation is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.