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8 hours ago - edited 8 hours ago
What is AI Control Tower?
AI Control Tower (AICT) is ServiceNow's AI governance platform. It gives organizations a central hub to discover, govern, secure, observe, and measure all AI assets across the enterprise โ both ServiceNow AI and third-party AI deployed in hyperscalers, SaaS platforms, and development environments. AI assets are tracked as configuration items in the ServiceNow CMDB, making AICT a native extension of your existing IT governance processes.
๐ Quick Overview
This guide covers what AICT is, what you need before you start, who uses it, and all the resources available to support your implementation. Whether you're just getting started or looking to expand your program, you're in the right place.
In this article:
โ What Is AI Control Tower?
โ Is This the Right Place?
โ Prerequisites
โ Key Personas and Roles
โ Maturing Your Program
โ Using a Partner
โ Essential Resources
โ Stay Current and Share Feedback
AICT is organized around five pillars, each working together and anchored by AI Inventory Management in the CMDB.
Automated and manual discovery of AI assets across AWS Bedrock, Azure AI Foundry, GCP Vertex AI, Copilot Studio, and more. Discovery connectors are available from the ServiceNow Store and can also be custom-built via the Service Graph Connector framework.
Risk assessments, lifecycle management, compliance frameworks, and playbooks. Includes pre-built content aligned to the EU AI Act and NIST AI Risk Management Framework to accelerate compliance from day one.
Security posture, access governance, and inline guardrails. AI Gateway provides a governed control plane for MCP server connections and agentic AI interoperability across platforms.
Monitor AI agent and model performance through metrics and log traces.
Quantify AI's business impact with metrics tracking adoption rates, realized value, and ROI.
You're in the right place if you are implementing or using AI Control Tower. AICT also works alongside several related ServiceNow products. You may own one or more of these as part of your broader program.
Provides risk, compliance, and policy management capabilities. AICT integrates with IRM for regulatory alignment and compliance case management. IRM is not required for AICT's core risk capabilities, which are fully included in AICT itself.
Unlocks execution-level AI strategy capabilities including demand management, roadmaps, and portfolio prioritization. The foundational goal framework is available to all AICT customers. SPM is its own SKU.
Included with AICT. AI Gateway provides a governed control plane for MCP server connections and agentic AI interoperability across platforms โ covering Govern, Control, and Observe for every MCP server connection in your enterprise.
Before activating AICT, review the official product documentation for current platform version requirements, plugin activation order, and role configuration guidance. Requirements change between releases โ the product docs are always the authoritative source.
โ ๏ธ Tip: Missing plugin dependencies or incorrect scope configuration can result in flows that fail silently. Your ServiceNow account team or implementation partner can help validate your setup before go-live.
AICT is designed for cross-functional use. These are the common roles in an AICT deployment.
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AI Steward Central governance role. Approves AI systems, manages risk assessments, and oversees lifecycle workflows across the AI asset portfolio. |
AI Product Owner Owns individual AI assets and is responsible for keeping asset records accurate and current throughout the lifecycle. |
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AI Risk and Compliance Manager Manages risk assessments, compliance frameworks, and regulatory alignment. Primary user of the AI Risk and Compliance workspace. |
CAIO / AI CoE Lead Executive or program-level sponsor responsible for enterprise AI strategy, standards, and responsible AI adoption across the organization. |
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Security / Privacy Stakeholders Review AI assets for access risk, data handling, and security posture. Collaborate with the AI Steward on governance decisions for sensitive or high-risk AI systems. |
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AICT adoption typically follows a phased approach. Most organizations don't need to reach every phase before realizing value โ start where you are and build incrementally.
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1
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Crawl Establish your AI inventory. Configure discovery connectors. Begin populating the CMDB with known AI assets โ ServiceNow and third-party. |
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2
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Walk Activate lifecycle workflows. Run impact assessments on priority assets. Configure your first risk and compliance framework aligned to EU AI Act or NIST AI RMF. |
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3
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Run Expand governance to external AI assets. Implement observability for production agents. Integrate with IRM, SecOps, and SPM as appropriate to your program. |
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4
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Fly Continuous monitoring, value measurement, regulatory reporting (EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF), and proactive AI risk posture management across the enterprise. |
Using a Partner
Many customers implement AICT with the help of a ServiceNow partner. When evaluating partners, look for demonstrated experience with AICT or GRC/IRM on the Now Platform, familiarity with CMDB data modeling, and ideally reference customers in your industry.
Use the ServiceNow Partner Finder to identify accredited partners by geography, industry, and specialty.
๐บ Watch First: Visit the Servicenow Exhange: GRC YouTube Channel and AI Academy YouTube Channel for available AICT content.
The primary hub for peer discussion, product updates, and implementation guidance. Subscribe to this board to receive notifications when new articles, FAQs, and release content are posted.
Technical reference for all AICT configurations, plugins, APIs, and platform integrations. The authoritative source for release-specific behavior.
The AI Control Tower (AICT) learning path is available and being expanded on a rolling basis. Start here if you're new to the platform. Instructor-led and on-demand options are available.
The AICT Implementation Guide and Value Implementation Guide cover setup, configuration, plugin activation, and value measurement in detail. Available in the community files section.
Step-by-step implementation guidance based on real-world ServiceNow deployments. Use to plan a successful implementation following proven methodologies.
Self-service and live-agent options for technical issues and questions.
Stay Current and Share Feedback
Subscribe to this community board to receive notifications when new articles, release notes, and FAQs are posted. Use the Subscribe button at the top of this page.
Releases โ ServiceNow releases updates quarterly. Check the community after each release for AICT-specific highlights. Review upgrade guidance at servicenow.com/success/instance-upgrades.html before upgrading your instance.
Share ideas โ Have a product suggestion? Submit it through the ServiceNow Idea Portal so the product team can track and prioritize customer feedback.
Connect with peers โ Meet others building AI governance programs at ServiceNow Knowledge, World Forums, and ServiceNow User Groups (SNUGs).
Ready to dive deeper?
Activation and Installation Guide ยท Product Documentation ยท AICT Path on ServiceNow University
