Important considerations for using Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM) agentic AI

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Important considerations for using Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM) agentic AI

    Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM) enables the use of AI agents within agentic workflows to autonomously complete ITSM tasks. These AI capabilities leverage supported Large Language Models (LLMs) to deliver generative AI skills and autonomous task execution.

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    Key Features

    • Supported Large Language Models: ServiceNow supports Now LLM Service, Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini, and Anthropic Claude on AWS for AI model provisioning. Configuration of the AI model provider and skill preferences is managed via AI Control Tower and the Now Assist Admin console.
    • Security and Access Control: AI agents and agentic workflows execute with Access Control Lists (ACLs) and user identities, using the Run As capability to perform actions as dynamic or AI users. Role masking controls user access, with specific roles included with Now Assist applications. Customers must configure security controls to include these roles when restricting access.
    • Activation and Autonomy: By default, agent workflows and AI agents are read-only. To enable autonomous operation, customers must duplicate the agentic workflow, activate it along with all contained agents, and activate a unique trigger to automate invocation. Manual invocation is supported without trigger activation.
    • Recommendations: Azure OpenAI is recommended as the LLM provider for ITSM agentic workflows for optimal performance and compatibility.
    • Standalone AI Agents: Some AI agents may be installed with Now Assist but not part of agentic workflows. Customers can view all available agents to understand and utilize standalone capabilities.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    ServiceNow customers using Now Assist for ITSM can implement autonomous AI agents to streamline routine IT service tasks, improving efficiency and reducing manual intervention. Proper configuration of LLM providers, security roles, and workflow activation is essential to ensure secure and effective operation. Understanding the distinction between agentic workflows and standalone agents helps optimize AI usage tailored to your organizational needs.

    Use the IT Service Management AI agents within an agentic workflow to complete tasks autonomously.

    Supported Large Language Models

    Note:

    Security implementation considerations

    Enable security implementation to execute AI agents and agentic workflows through Access Control Lists (ACLs) and user identities. ACLs provide the Run As capability to let agents and agentic workflows execute actions either as a dynamic user or as an AI user. For more information, see Implement access control in Now Assist AI agents

    Agentic workflows and their AI agents use role masking to determine which users can access them. Ones installed with Now Assist applications have specific roles that come included with the application. If you select Users with specific roles for user access, you must configure the security controls to include these roles. For the instructions to change the security controls, see Define security controls for an agentic workflow.

    AI agents use role masking to determine which users can access them. Ones installed with Now Assist applications have specific roles that come included with the application. If you select Users with specific roles for user access, you must configure the security controls to include these roles. For the instructions to change the security controls, see Define security controls for an AI agent.

    Considerations for running the autonomous AI Agents

    Important:
    By default, all agent workflow and AI agent records are read-only.

    To run the AI agents autonomously, you must first duplicate the agentic workflow, and then proceed with the following steps:

    • Activate the agentic workflow.
    • Activate all agents within the agentic workflow.
    • Activate the trigger to invoke the agentic workflow automatically. The triggers for each agentic workflow must be unique. If you prefer to invoke it manually, activating the trigger isn’t necessary.
    • Azure OpenAI is recommended for ITSM agentic workflows. For information on Large Language Models (LLMs) for AI agents and agentic workflows, see Large language models on the ServiceNow AI Platform®.

    Standalone AI agents

    There might be AI agents installed with the Now Assist application that are not used in agentic workflows. To learn how to see all agents that are available to you, see Find AI agents.