Part 4 of 8 — AI Agents in Practice series. Previous — How the Control Loop Actually Works (Part 3) The damaged laptop A TechNova customer writes in: "My laptop arrived damaged. I want a refund." One sentence. Two requests, really — one stated, one implied. The customer wants the refund. The system has to decide whether the refund is actually appropriate, and if it is, whether to issue it now or after some other step. That second job is where it gets complicated. Before any response goes out, several things need to happen. The order has to be looked up. Shipment status and damage evidence have to be checked. The refund and replacement policy has to be retrieved. Replacement inventory has to be checked. The system has to decide between refund and replacement. If the refund crosses a threshold, a human has to approve it. Then a response has to be drafted that does not promise something the policy will not allow.…