--- sourceDocument: Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Administration sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/platform-administration Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Administration ft:clusterId : - platadm bundleId : - platadm workflow : - Platform --- # Content security # Content security in AI Search {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated September 10, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 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 Content security in AI Search AI Search in ServiceNow automatically enforces content security by filtering search query results to display only records accessible to the logged-in user. This security feature is built-in and cannot be disabled or configured by users. Show full answer Show less ## Indexed security features When indexing records, AI Search preserves key access control settings including: * Role-based field-level ACLs (non-scripted) * Non-scripted conditional ACLs * Scripted table-level ACLs * Before Query business rules * Domain separation * User criteria for knowledge and catalog item tables Note that scripted or conditional field-level ACLs are **not** supported. ## Security enforcement approaches AI Search applies content security during search queries using two methods: * **Early binding:** Default method that integrates security filters directly into the search query. Records must meet both query and security criteria. Early binding supports most non-scripted ACLs and business rules but falls back to late binding if scripted table-level ACLs are detected or errors occur. * **Late binding:** A more resource-intensive method that post-filters results by checking each record's read permissions via the GlideRecord.canRead() API. Late binding supports all indexed security features and serves as a fallback by default. Administrators can configure AI Search to always use late binding either globally or per indexed source via system properties and source settings. Using late binding affects facet behavior by limiting filter selections to fields in the current result page and may cause facet counts to differ from actual displayed results. ## Content security for external content AI Search maintains access permissions when indexing external documents by mapping ServiceNow users to external users and groups. This ensures that search results for external content respect the defined access controls. For detailed configuration and use with external data sources, refer to the respective AI Search documentation on external content security. AI Search filters search query results and displays only records that the currently logged in user can access. Content security is automatically enabled and isn't configurable. ## Indexed security features {#content-security-ais__section_mfd_nv4_5mb} When indexing records from ServiceNow AI Platform® tables, AI Search preserves the following access control settings: * Role-based field-level [access control list rules](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=access-control-rules&version=australia&pubname=australia-platform-security&ft:locale=en-US) (ACLs) * Non-scripted conditional ACLs * Scripted table-level ACLs * [Before Query business rules](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=bp-before-query-business-rules&version=australia&pubname=australia-platform-security&ft:locale=en-US) * [Domain separation](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/VLitIQPOCUYTh_hP~xZ_fw "Domain separation is unsupported for the AI Search application tables, but user search queries respect domain restrictions from indexed ServiceNow AI Platform table records. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.") * [User criteria](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=t_CreateAUserCriteriaRecord&version=australia&pubname=australia-servicenow-platform&ft:locale=en-US) for records indexed from the Knowledge \[kb_knowledge\] and Catalog Item \[sc_cat_item\] tables {#content-security-ais__ul_vqv_krt_vnb} AI Search doesn't support scripted field-level ACLs or conditional field-level ACLs. ## Early and late binding security implementations for search queries {#content-security-ais__section_mzk_hv4_5mb} At query time, AI Search filters search results by evaluating user access to indexed tables and records. The filtering implementation used depends on the security features present on tables and records that match the search query. {#content-security-ais__table_a3q_bz4_5mb__entry__2} | Content security implementation | Description | |-|-| | Early binding | Default content security implementation that incorporates security filters into the search query. The system adds relevant security filters for the user to each search query. To appear in the search results, records must match the search query and pass all security filters. Early binding security supports non-scripted ACLs, Before Query business rules, and domain separation, plus user criteria for records indexed from the kb_knowledge and sc_cat_item tables. If a search matches records that have table-level scripted ACLs, the search query automatically falls back to use late binding security. Note: If an early binding filter produces an error, the search query automatically falls back to use late binding security. | | Late binding | More computationally expensive alternate content security implementation that post-filters search query results. The system applies security filters to the search query just as early binding security does. After retrieving records that match the filtered query, it invokes the [GlideRecord.canRead()](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=c_GlideRecordScopedAPI&version=australia&pubname=australia-api-reference&ft:locale=en-US) method for each record. To appear in the search results, records must match the search query, pass all security filters, and return true for the API method. Late binding security supports all indexed security features. By default, late binding security serves as a fallback mechanism for early binding security. You can override this default behavior in the following ways: * To make AI Search use late binding security for all results from an indexed source, set the value of that indexed source's Force Late Binding field to true. * To make AI Search use late binding security for all search results, set the value of the Force AI Search to use late binding for ACL evaluation ( glide.ais.security.force_late_binding ) system property to true.{#content-security-ais__sysprop-late-binding-ph} {#content-security-ais__ul_hpc_ptt_nvb} If AI Search applies late binding security to any results from an indexed source used by a facet, the list of available filter selections for the facet changes. When this happens, the facet only displays field values found in the current page of search results. For details on facets, see [Create a facet in an AI Search application configuration](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/TljxLuNSVDJtoj3Bv0B~Ug "Define facets to refine your searches using categories dynamically generated from the current search results."). When you enable search result counts for facets in a search application, the counts indicate the number of results that matched the user's search. Late binding security can remove results after they're counted, causing the actual number of displayed results to be lower than the count. For more information on search result counts for facets, see [Show search result counts for facets on the results page for a search application](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/0av7J6O05uJAXuWkJMqF7g "Display search result counts for facets on the results page for AI Search applications that use Seismic components. Search result counts for facets show the number of matching search results for each source facet bucket."). | [ ] {#content-security-ais__table_a3q_bz4_5mb} ## Content security for external content {#content-security-ais__section_ljb_l1l_vnb} AI Search preserves access permissions when ingesting external documents. You can alias ServiceNow AI Platform users to the externally defined users and groups specified in these access permissions. AI Search constructs content security filters for external document records from these permissions and aliases. To learn about using AI Search with external data sources, see [Indexing and searching external content in AI Search](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/hV203z5LyFBN4Wc2KgUeiA "With a subscription for the External Content for AI Search plugin, you can enable AI Search users to search content and metadata from documents in external repositories and remote tables."). For full details on external content security, see [External content security for AI Search](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/sGjQl40uDMKU07xWXSzwZA "AI Search preserves user and group security access permissions specified for documents indexed from external sources. You can control access to external content search results by mapping these externally defined users and groups to ServiceNow AI Platform users.").