diff --git a/.github/workflows/daily_ai_fix.yaml b/.github/workflows/daily_ai_fix.yaml
index 8c807a4834..d16497c642 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/daily_ai_fix.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/daily_ai_fix.yaml
@@ -87,15 +87,19 @@ jobs:
 
       # Created up front so issue-fix.md's per-issue relabel never has to
       # improvise a color or retry a "label does not exist" error — that's a
-      # wasted turn multiplied by every issue in the batch.
-      - name: Ensure relabel targets exist
+      # wasted turn multiplied by every issue in the batch. Also covers
+      # ai:blocked, which the forbidden-paths guard applies later in this
+      # same job: with set -euo pipefail, `gh pr edit --add-label` on a
+      # label that doesn't exist yet fails and aborts that step's loop
+      # entirely, silently skipping every remaining PR behind it.
+      - name: Ensure control labels exist
         if: steps.batch.outputs.count != '0'
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.AI_PR_TOKEN }}
           REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-          for l in ai:fixed ai:upstream ai:needs-human; do
+          for l in ai:fixed ai:upstream ai:needs-human ai:blocked; do
             gh label create "$l" --repo "$REPO" --color ededed --force >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
           done
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/on_issues_ai_triage.yaml b/.github/workflows/on_issues_ai_triage.yaml
index e1875f0804..74bb18a5e3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/on_issues_ai_triage.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/on_issues_ai_triage.yaml
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@ concurrency:
 
 env:
   MAINTAINER: alexbelgium
-  # Leave "true" for the first couple of weeks. The verdict is printed in the
-  # job log and nothing is written to the issue. Flip when it looks right.
-  DRY_RUN: "true"
 
 jobs:
   classify:
@@ -120,12 +117,6 @@ jobs:
           [ "$VERDICT" = "addon-bug" ] && LABELS+=("ai-triage")
           LABELS+=("ai:classified")
 
-          if [ "${DRY_RUN:-true}" = "true" ]; then
-            echo "DRY_RUN: would apply labels: ${LABELS[*]}"
-            echo "DRY_RUN: would post comment:"; printf '%s\n' "$COMMENT"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-
           for l in "${LABELS[@]}"; do
             gh label create "$l" --repo "$REPO" --color ededed --force >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
           done