--- sourceDocument: Yokohama Conversational Interfaces sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/yokohama/conversational-interfaces Release : - yokohama ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Yokohama Conversational Interfaces ft:clusterId : - convint bundleId : - convint workflow : - Platform --- # Exploring Now Assist in Virtual Agent # Exploring Now Assist in Virtual Agent {#ariaid-title1} * Release version: Yokohama * * Updated January 30, 2025 * * ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 4 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Exploring Now Assist in Virtual Agent Now Assist in Virtual Agent leverages large language models (LLMs) and generative AI to improve user interactions by simplifying topic discovery and reducing the need for extensive Natural Language Understanding (NLU) setup. This enhancement helps increase deflection rates and reduces reliance on live agents by enabling Virtual Agent to better understand and respond to natural language queries. It supports easy migration from existing NLU topics to LLM-based topics and can be quickly configured via a guided setup without requiring AI expertise. Show full answer Show less Now Assist is accessible through multiple channels including chat widgets on portals, mobile apps, and Microsoft Teams, providing a consistent and enhanced user experience across platforms. ## Key Features * **LLM-powered Topic Discovery:** Simplifies topic setup by using generative AI for topic creation and migration from traditional NLU models. * **Now Assist Skills:** Includes multiple AI-enhanced skills that improve user query handling: * **Q\&A Genius Results:** Presents the best possible answers with actionable options and the ability to show more results. * **Multi-Turn Catalog Ordering:** Allows users to interactively refine and place service catalog requests using natural language during the conversation. * **Topics Skill:** Enables admins to create and activate LLM topics for Now Assist. * **Customizable Skill Picker:** Admins can configure labels and promoted assets to tailor the user interface according to organizational needs. * **Multi-portal Deployment:** Supports deployment on various interfaces such as portals, mobile apps, and collaboration tools. * **Performance Monitoring:** Provides monitoring of usage and value metrics through the Conversational Interfaces console and AI Admin Hub console. ## Benefits for ServiceNow Customers * **Faster Setup:** Guided setup enables administrators to deploy Now Assist quickly without specialized AI knowledge. * **Improved User Experience:** Users benefit from natural language understanding and AI-generated responses that offer actionable options and seamless switching between queries. * **Increased Efficiency:** Reduces workload on live agents by improving issue resolution rates within Virtual Agent. * **Flexible and Scalable:** Deployable across multiple platforms and customizable to meet specific business requirements. * **Insightful Analytics:** Enables administrators to track usage and effectiveness, facilitating continuous improvement of Virtual Agent interactions. Now Assist in Virtual Agent uses large language models (LLMs) and generative AI skills to improve deflection rates and reduce the amount of time-consuming work that Natural Language Understanding (NLU) topic discovery requires. Now Assist capabilities bring generative AI to Virtual Agent. Using LLMs for topic discovery simplifies the amount of setup and configuration required for Virtual Agent. Topics that use keyword and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) discovery often require months of development and the involvement of dedicated subject matter experts. Unusual issues or questions may lead a user to contact a live agent instead. You can continue to use your existing NLU topics and migrate them into new LLM topics using the topic migration feature within Virtual Agent Designer. For more information on topic migration, see [Migrating NLU/keyword Virtual Agent topics to LLM topics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/c4a_8Tp_vHQ1ZwV~lCopbA "The topic migration workflow enables you to migrate your existing Natural Language Understanding (NLU)/keyword topics into new large language model (LLM) topics."). Use the guided setup to configure Now Assist in Virtual Agent in a few minutes. No expertise is necessary to launch the experience. For more information, see [Configuring assistants overview](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Iq8pGh6Fvy4~YMEuJyerJQ "Use Assistant Designer to build and optimize large language model (LLM) assistants for your conversational needs. Assistant Designer is a centralized assistant administrator experience that allows you to create and manage both chat and voice assistants."). Now Assist in Virtual Agent is available through portals on the chat widget, the mobile app, and Microsoft Teams. ## Now Assist skills in Virtual Agent {#exploring-now-assist-va__section_hbz_nsp_fzb} Now Assist skills in Virtual Agent enhance the user experience by combining AI Search with chat. These skills can increase issue resolution in Virtual Agent and reduce deflections to a live agent. The following figure shows how the requester uses natural language rather than keywords in the chat. Now LLM Service determines the most likely option based on the requester's input and sends a synthesized response with possible action items. Queries can apply to both information searches and service catalog requests. Figure 1. Example of standard chat's synthesized response with conversational and non-conversational catalog options The Now Assist Q\&A Genius Results skill shows users the best possible answer to a query, in the form of actionable options displayed along with the results. The bot may generate answers based on what it found, or return actionable options or links. Users have the option to see more results as needed. The Now Assist Multi-Turn Catalog Ordering skill gives users access to available options in the Service Catalog. Users can request an item, such as a mobile phone. The user can then provide more information to refine the search. For example, they may refine their request to a blue 256-GB iPhone. They can even request a new item instead, all in the same conversation, and the generative AI creates its responses using natural language. The Now Assist Topics skill enables admins to create LLM topics for Now Assist in Virtual Agent. For more information, see [LLM assistants](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/PCYXDl7tZHGT5YEKQunO1Q "LLM assistants help with large language model (LLM) topic discovery. The Now Assist in Virtual Agent assistant is the default LLM assistant created during the Conversational Interfaces Assistants guided setup."). Activate the Now Assist Topics skill in the Now Assist guided setup. For more information, see [Configuring assistants overview](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Iq8pGh6Fvy4~YMEuJyerJQ "Use Assistant Designer to build and optimize large language model (LLM) assistants for your conversational needs. Assistant Designer is a centralized assistant administrator experience that allows you to create and manage both chat and voice assistants."). For more examples of having a conversation with Now Assist in Virtual Agent, see [Using Now Assist in Virtual Agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/3cJzG0GDV87y0ELIahTpIg "Now Assist in Virtual Agent enhances the user experience by combining AI Search with generative AI chat skills. These skills can speed up issue resolution and reduce deflection to a live agent."). Figure 2. Example of standard chat's View all topics option Now Assist in Virtual Agent skills are available in the AI Admin Hub console. For full catalog functionality in the chat window, enable the generative AI experience for catalog item request submissions. For more information, see [Configure Now Assist in Conversational Catalog Request](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/j86h_zQKYKu2v_edpHucEQ "Speed up and provide a conversational and streamlined experience based on generative AI while submitting a catalog item request in Virtual Agent. Your organization can increase self-service and reduce operating costs."). The skill picker is configurable based on the user's requirements. For example, a user can change the View all topics label in the skill picker and add or remove the bullet list of promoted assets from the skill selection message. Figure 3. Now Assist in Virtual Agent skills in the AI Admin Hub console ## Benefits {#exploring-now-assist-va__section_hz2_qmc_kzb} Now Assist in Virtual Agent provides the following benefits. {#exploring-now-assist-va__table_t44_5mc_kzb__entry__3} | Benefit | Feature | User | |-|-|-| | Configure Now Assist in Virtual Agent in a few minutes, from either the Conversational Interfaces console or the AI Admin Hub console. | [Guided setup experience](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Iq8pGh6Fvy4~YMEuJyerJQ "Use Assistant Designer to build and optimize large language model (LLM) assistants for your conversational needs. Assistant Designer is a centralized assistant administrator experience that allows you to create and manage both chat and voice assistants.") | virtual_agent_admin or admin | | Now Assist skills can be turned on within the guided setup. | [Activate a Now Assist skill](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=configure-a-now-assist-skill&version=yokohama&pubname=yokohama-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US) | virtual_agent_admin or admin | | Deploy Now Assist in Virtual Agent on multiple portals using the chat widget, the mobile app, and Microsoft Teams. | [Configuring assistants overview](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Iq8pGh6Fvy4~YMEuJyerJQ "Use Assistant Designer to build and optimize large language model (LLM) assistants for your conversational needs. Assistant Designer is a centralized assistant administrator experience that allows you to create and manage both chat and voice assistants.") | virtual_agent_admin or admin | | Generative AI enhances the user search experience with the ability to generate answers and enabling the user to select the Show more results option for a new search. | [Now Assist Q\&A Genius Results skill](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/3cJzG0GDV87y0ELIahTpIg "Now Assist in Virtual Agent enhances the user experience by combining AI Search with generative AI chat skills. These skills can speed up issue resolution and reduce deflection to a live agent.") | requesters | | Give users in-chat access to available options in the Service Catalog. | [Now Assist Multi-Turn Catalog Ordering skill](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/3cJzG0GDV87y0ELIahTpIg "Now Assist in Virtual Agent enhances the user experience by combining AI Search with generative AI chat skills. These skills can speed up issue resolution and reduce deflection to a live agent.") | requesters | | Now Assist lets Virtual Agent switch easily between requests, using plain language when new queries are made in the same conversation. | [Mid-topic switching during Now Assist in Virtual Agent conversations](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/hHXhF9d3feHDE6R4D1DhjQ "Mid-topic switching easily lets you switch between requests, using plain language whenever new queries are made in the same Now Assist in Virtual Agent conversation.") | requesters | | Monitor performance metrics for Now Assist in Virtual Agent from the Conversational Interfaces console. | [Conversational Interfaces console](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/y5XQ8C4VzSMG8rdt0xENIg "The Conversational Interfaces applications enable your users to engage with live agents, virtual agents, or both. These interfaces provide tools for creating and managing optimal conversational experiences for your users, in the chat channels that they prefer.") | virtual_agent_admin or admin | | Monitor value metrics (Now Assist usage versus Now Assist in Virtual Agent) from the AI Admin Hub console. | [AI Admin Hub console](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=configuring-now-assist&version=yokohama&pubname=yokohama-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US) | virtual_agent_admin or admin | [ ] {#exploring-now-assist-va__table_t44_5mc_kzb}