Platform engineering rapidly embraces automation and AI, but there is a growing risk that human expertise and intuition are sidelined in favor of “autopilot” controls. This talk explores strategies for building governance frameworks that balance automated code review, policy enforcement, and quality gates with intentional human involvement. Drawing from real-world platform implementations and AI code quality case studies, I’ll discuss how platform teams can design trust signals, foster developer agency, and encourage responsible innovation while still leveraging AI and automation for scale. Attendees will learn actionable techniques to combine automated checks with culture and intuition, ensuring that developer platforms remain both efficient and deeply human-centered.