Now Assist in Virtual Agent - Have VA present a topic over a Knowledge article

[DanielStrange]

While configuring Now Assist in Virtual Agent, we are trying to create a topic that displays a specific knowledge article and asks the user if it resolved their issue. If resolved, the topic closes; otherwise, it triggers a topic block to create an incident.

The issue is that the Now Assist chatbot provides a summary of the KB article before executing the topic block, which then displays the article information a second time.

Is there a way to prevent Now Assist in VA from automatically returning the KB article first so that it only runs the custom Topic?

[rpriyadarshy]

Do You need this behavior for your Chat-bot irrespective of This Given Topic?

VA Search Profile you can Try Playing with This setting - Search Sources Tab -->Include/Exclude Now Assist Genius Result. But this will be applied for whole BOT.

Regards

RP

[ajmalmuhamm]

Hi @DanielStrange ,

Yes, this behavior is expected with Now Assist in Virtual Agent because the user's utterance is first processed through the AI Search/Now Assist layer. If the KB article is identified as a relevant result, Now Assist can generate a synthesized summary before the Virtual Agent topic is launched.

For your requirement, I would check the following:

1. Make the custom topic the primary match
   Make sure the topic is discoverable by the user's exact intent and, if appropriate for your configuration, use an LLM topic so Now Assist can identify the topic directly.
2. Check the AI Search/Fallback configuration
   The AI Search Fallback setup topic controls the search experience when VA cannot confidently identify a topic. If the user's utterance is being treated as a knowledge search instead of matching your topic, the KB Genius Result can be generated first.
3. Check whether the topic is being returned as a single action
   ServiceNow documents that when a single VA topic is identified in the synthesized response, VA can take the user directly into that topic flow rather than requiring them to select it.
4. Don't modify the KB/Genius Result logic just to solve the duplication
   The KB summarization is part of the Now Assist/AI Search experience, so disabling it globally could affect other self-service searches.

For your specific design, I would aim for:

User asks question → Custom Topic matched → Display KB article → "Did this resolve your issue?" → Yes: End → No: Create Incident

rather than:

User asks question → Now Assist summarizes KB → Custom Topic displays same KB → Feedback

If the custom topic is consistently being matched but the synthesized KB response still appears before it, I would check the Assistant Designer chat experience and AI Search/Genius Result configuration for that assistant. I wouldn't modify the OOB widgets or Now Assist scripts until confirming that configuration.

Also, if you're on Australia, be aware that the current documentation says Knowledge Base Articles Genius Results are in maintenance mode and recommends the newer Summary Genius Results functionality, so the exact configuration can differ depending on which AI Search/Now Assist components are enabled.

In short: this isn't something I'd solve by hiding the KB response with client-side customization. First make the custom topic the definitive match and review the AI Search fallback/Genius Result configuration for the assistant.