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an hour ago - edited 53m ago
Getting Started with AI Agents: Governing AI Across Your Platform
Here's a pattern we see emerge in nearly every enterprise AI conversation: teams are deploying AI fast — and the tools they're reaching for live outside the platform where the actual work gets done.
A Slack bot here. A standalone GPT wrapper there. Someone on the help desk using a third-party AI summarizer that nobody approved. Before long, decisions are being made with AI, but the trail of who did what, why, and with which data has gone dark.
Inside ServiceNow, AI works the way enterprise systems are supposed to work. Actions are tied to records. Permissions are enforced. Workflows are tracked. Audit history is intact. The problem isn't AI — it's AI that operates outside of this governed system, disconnected from the records and workflows that make outcomes accountable.
Welcome back to our series from the AI Center of Excellence (CoE) team at ServiceNow. Through countless advisory and hands-on engagements, we've gathered valuable insights and practical guidance that we're excited to share with the broader ServiceNow community.
🎬 Watch the Video
This is part of our ongoing Now AI video series, where we've been building out real-world AI capabilities step by step.
What We Covered
In this installment, we take on one of the most pressing challenges for platform owners and architects: AI activity that happens outside the system of record. Here's what the discussion covers:
- What "Shadow AI" is and why it's a growing risk — AI tools operating outside the platform create fragmented decision-making and eliminate the accountability structures your organization depends on
- How untracked AI usage breaks your audit trail — even when individual records look clean, decisions influenced by outside AI can leave gaps that compliance and security teams can't close
- The governed vs. ungoverned AI gap — a clear breakdown of what's protected inside the platform and what's exposed when AI moves outside it
- Why fewer AI surfaces is a feature, not a limitation — consolidating AI activity inside ServiceNow isn't restrictive; it's the design pattern that makes scale safe
- How Now Assist brings AI back into the platform — where activity is traceable, permission-scoped, and aligned with your existing workflows and policies
Resources We Found Helpful
As we built out this thinking, these ServiceNow resources provided useful grounding:
- AI Control Tower Overview — ServiceNow's centralized command center for governing, managing, and securing any AI agent, model, or workflow across your enterprise: servicenow.com/products/ai-control-tower
- Introducing the ServiceNow AI Control Tower: From Intelligent Insights to Responsible Action — A deep-dive community article on how AI Control Tower addresses shadow AI, model drift, and ungoverned AI assets — including how to activate it and assign governance roles: ServiceNow Community
- AI Control Tower Knowledge & Troubleshooting Resources — A continuously updated community reference guide covering AI asset lifecycle, real-time monitoring, compliance posture, and discovery of Now Assist skills and deployed models: ServiceNow Community
- Now Assist Platform Documentation — Core reference for understanding how Now Assist capabilities are administered and governed within the Now Platform: docs.servicenow.com
- AI Agent Orchestration Documentation — Details on configuring AI agents, tool assignments, and governance controls for agent actions: docs.servicenow.com/ai-agents
What's Next
The governance conversation doesn't end with visibility — it continues with enforcement. As AI agents take on more consequential work, the organizations that scale responsibly will be the ones that established a system of record for AI before they needed one.
If you have questions or want to share how your team is approaching AI governance on the Now Platform, drop them in the comments. We'll respond or update the article as needed.
Contact your ServiceNow representative to learn more about Now Assist and AI Control Tower, and how organizations are building governed, auditable AI programs at scale.
Check out the rest of our Now AI video series here on getting started with AI Agents!
Views expressed are our own and do not represent ServiceNow, our team, partners, or customers.
