Combined AI Search release notes for upgrades from Xanadu to Australia

How to use this page

To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family AI Search release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Xanadu to Australia.

Tip:

If there were no updates for a release notes section in a certain family release, we included a short note for your reference. For example, if a product did not have any updates in Tokyo, the row says "No updates for this release."

Important information for upgrading AI Search to Australia

Before you upgrade to Australia, review these pre- and post-upgrade tasks and complete the tasks as needed.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	Xanadu Patch 3: After you upgrade to Xanadu Patch 3 from an earlier release, make knowledge block content searchable by reindexing all your indexed sources that include knowledge articles. For details on reindexing, see Index or reindex an indexed source or Index or reindex multiple indexed sources. Xanadu: After you upgrade to Xanadu from an earlier release, perform the following steps to add the Dashboards, data visualizations, and KPIs navigation tabs to global search results in AI Search for Next Experience: Update the AI Search for Next Experience ServiceNow Store application to version 4 or later. For update instructions, see Update an application. Commit the update set provided in the AI Search for Next Experience 4.0 PAR tables update sets (KB1644544) article in the Now Support Knowledge Base. To learn more about update sets, see System update sets.
Yokohama	When you upgrade to Yokohama from an earlier release, make knowledge block content searchable by reindexing all your indexed sources that include knowledge articles. For details on reindexing, see Index or reindex an indexed source or Index or reindex multiple indexed sources.
Zurich	After you upgrade to Zurich from an earlier family release, run full document crawls in all your external content connectors to update their semantic vector indexing field mappings.
Australia	No updates for this release.

New features

Between your current release family and Australia, new features were introduced for AI Search.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	(Xanadu Patch 9) Improve semantic search with third-party embedding models Use custom and third-party embedding models supported by the AI Search RAG application to generate more accurate and relevant semantic search results. (Xanadu Patch 3) Knowledge block content indexing When you index knowledge articles for search, AI Search now includes content from knowledge blocks to improve search recall. NLQ Genius Results support searching for multiple CMDB tables When your search includes terms that could match multiple CMDB tables, NLQ Genius Result answers display a drop-down list of potential CMDB table matches for each affected term. Use these drop-down lists to select the CMDB tables that you want to surface information for. Middle dot support for Japanese Increase search precision for Japanese phrases that include nakaguro (中黒, middle dot) characters. When indexing Japanese text or searching in Japanese, AI Search preserves individual terms separated by a nakaguro instead of merging them into a single term.
Yokohama	Yokohama Patch 11 Improve search precision and contextual relevance with hybrid search Beginning with Now Assist in AI Search 15.0, customers with Now Assist in AI Search installed can enable the new hybrid search mode. Hybrid search combines keyword-based search with semantic understanding to deliver more accurate and relevant search results, with fewer zero-result searches. Yokohama Patch 3 Improve semantic search with third-party embedding models Use custom and third-party embedding models supported by the AI Search RAG application to generate more accurate and relevant semantic search results. Yokohama Early Availability Limit the number of Task and Alert records indexed with indexed source guardrails Index guardrail settings restrict index size and increase search performance by limiting the number of Task and Alert table records indexed for search. Exclude search sources in a search profile from search result or Genius Result generation Tune your search results by configuring search source exclusion settings in your search profiles. You can exclude a search source from being used to generate regular search results, Genius Result answers, or both. When excluding a search source's records from Genius Result answer generation, you can also choose to exclude its attachments. Knowledge block content indexing When you index knowledge articles for search, AI Search now includes content from knowledge blocks to improve search recall. Administrators can disable indexing of knowledge block content if desired. Boost relevancy for search results that match synonyms from a synonym dictionary Define synonyms in a synonym dictionary and configure a result improvement rule to apply relevancy boosts (positive or negative) to search results that match any of those synonyms. Customize semantic indexing settings for indexed sources Customize semantic indexing settings for your indexed sources. Fuzzy numeric search Find records by their Number using numeric search terms like `23583`, with no need to match alphabetical prefixes or leading zeroes.
Zurich	Zurich Patch 4 Improve search precision and contextual relevance with hybrid search Beginning with Now Assist in AI Search 15.0, customers with Now Assist in AI Search installed can enable the new hybrid search mode. Hybrid search combines keyword-based search with semantic understanding to deliver more accurate and relevant search results, with fewer zero-result searches. Zurich Patch 1 Improve semantic search with third-party embedding models Use custom and third-party embedding models supported by the AI Search RAG application to generate more accurate and relevant semantic search results. Zurich Early Availability Filter external content search results by language AI Search filters external content search results, displaying only results that contain content in languages relevant for the user's search. These languages include: The search user's session language The fallback language for the user's session language (if configured) The language of the global fallback locale (if configured) Indexing support for variables in records on Catalog Item and child tables Index searchable content from Multiple Choice and Select Box variables in records on the Catalog Item table and tables that extend it. New display properties for Search Result EVAM cards Search Result EVAM cards include new customIcon, customIconSize, forceNewTab, and useAttachmentViewer properties that you can use to modify display settings and behavior for search results.
Australia	Australia Patch 1 Improve search precision and contextual relevance with hybrid search Hybrid search combines keyword-based search with semantic understanding to deliver more accurate and relevant search results, with fewer zero-result searches. Configure AI Search as the source for Ask Now Assist suggestions Admins can configure the system to use AI Search as the source for Ask Now Assist suggestions in enhanced chat. Making this change activates suggestion term highlighting in Ask Now Assist and provides improvements such as wildcard searching and lemmatization for suggestions.

Changes

Between your current release family and Australia, some changes were made to existing AI Search features.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	Facets display refinement filters in the search user's language When displaying reference field values as facet refinement filters, AI Search uses field value translations for the search user's language if available. If no translations are available for the user's language, AI Search uses translations for the system language. Late binding security implementation preserves correct click rank search signals When late binding security removes inaccessible results, click rank search signals correctly reflect the final result ordering.
Yokohama	Yokohama Patch 11 Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results If you have Now Assist in AI Search installed, Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results are supported in global and workspace search. Activating Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results in global or workspace search profiles overrides all other Genius Result configurations, so that global and workspace searches only display Genius Result answers from Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results. Virtual Agent topic citations from Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Result answers in global or workspace search open the selected topic in the Now Assist panel so the user can continue their conversation on that topic. Search Suggestions Search administrators with the ais_admin granular admin role can access all Search Suggestions tables. Assign search administrators this role to eliminate needless propagation of full admin access. Gain insights into search behavior with a refreshed and updated Search Preview UI. Preview search query results using settings from a search application configuration or a search profile. Choose between keyword and hybrid search modes. Display search results as individual EVAM cards or as a JSON-format search query response object, with search and syntax highlighting. Review search query behavior and results and specify search query settings with the new Summary, Genius Results, Details, and Profile admin tools. Yokohama Patch 6 Consumer-grade search experience for search portals The search results page for search portals has been revised to offer a more intuitive and consistent experience. Navigation tabs have been replaced with source facet buckets. All search results now open in a new browser tab, preserving your search in the existing browser tab. Facet buckets now show minimum search result counts, reflecting results removed by late binding content security. Search terms are no longer highlighted in search results. Consumer-grade search experience for global search and workspace search The search results page for global search and workspace search has been revised to offer a more intuitive and consistent experience. Navigation tabs have been replaced with source facet buckets. All search results now open in a new browser tab, preserving your search in the existing browser tab. Facet buckets now show minimum search result counts, reflecting results removed by late binding content security. A new glide.ui.ais.show_all_facets system property enables you to display facets from all sources when no source is selected. (The default behavior is to hide facets until a source is selected.) Search terms are no longer highlighted in search results. Sort facet buckets alphabetically Override the default sorting of facet buckets by their search result counts and display them sorted alphabetically by their labels. Improved display for grouped attachment search results When grouped with their parent search results, attachment search results now appear in collapsed form to save space. If a parent search result includes more than three grouped attachments, you can use the new Show more and Show less links to control how many attachments are visible.
Zurich	Zurich Patch 4 Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results If you have Now Assist in AI Search installed, Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results are supported in global and workspace search. Activating Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results in global or workspace search profiles overrides all other Genius Result configurations, so that global and workspace searches only display Genius Result answers from Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results. Virtual Agent topic citations from Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Result answers in global or workspace search open the selected topic in the Now Assist panel so the user can continue their conversation on that topic. Search Suggestions Search administrators with the ais_admin granular admin role can access all Search Suggestions tables. Assign search administrators this role to eliminate needless propagation of full admin access. Gain insights into search behavior with a refreshed and updated Search Preview UI. Preview search query results using settings from a search application configuration or a search profile. Choose between keyword and hybrid search modes. Display search results as individual EVAM cards or as a JSON-format search query response object, with search and syntax highlighting. Review search query behavior and results and specify search query settings with the new Summary, Genius Results, Details, and Profile admin tools. Zurich Patch 1 Consumer-grade search experience for search portals The search results page for search portals has been revised to offer a more intuitive and consistent experience. Navigation tabs have been replaced with source facet buckets. All search results now open in a new browser tab, preserving your search in the existing browser tab. Facet buckets now show minimum search result counts, reflecting results removed by late binding content security. Search terms are no longer highlighted in search results. Consumer-grade search experience for global search and workspace search The search results page for global search and workspace search has been revised to offer a more intuitive and consistent experience. Navigation tabs have been replaced with source facet buckets. All search results now open in a new browser tab, preserving your search in the existing browser tab. Facet buckets now show minimum search result counts, reflecting results removed by late binding content security. A new glide.ui.ais.show_all_facets system property enables you to display facets from all sources when no source is selected. (The default behavior is to hide facets until a source is selected.) Search terms are no longer highlighted in search results. Sort facet buckets alphabetically Override the default sorting of facet buckets by their search result counts and display them sorted alphabetically by their labels. Improved display for grouped attachment search results When grouped with their parent search results, attachment search results now appear in collapsed form to save space. If a parent search result includes more than three grouped attachments, you can use the new Show more and Show less links to control how many attachments are visible.
Australia	Australia Patch 1 Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results If you have Now Assist in AI Search installed, Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results are supported in global and workspace search. Activating Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results in global or workspace search profiles overrides all other Genius Result configurations, so that global and workspace searches only display Genius Result answers from Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results. Virtual Agent topic citations from Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Result answers in global or workspace search open the selected topic in the Now Assist panel so the user can continue their conversation on that topic. Search Suggestions Search administrators with the ais_admin granular admin role can access all Search Suggestions tables. Assign search administrators this role to eliminate needless propagation of full admin access. Gain insights into search behavior with a refreshed and updated Search Preview UI. Preview search query results using settings from a search application configuration or a search profile. Choose between keyword and hybrid search modes. Display search results as individual EVAM cards or as a JSON-format search query response object, with search and syntax highlighting. Review search query behavior and results and specify search query settings with the new Summary, Genius Results, Details, and Profile admin tools.

Removed

Between your current release family and Australia, some AI Search features or functionality were removed.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Deprecations

Between your current release family and Australia, some AI Search features or functionality were deprecated.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	Starting with the Now Assist in AI Search 8.0 release, the External Content Q&A Genius Results feature is being prepared for future deprecation. It will continue to be supported until it is deprecated. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.
Yokohama	Starting with the Now Assist in AI Search 8.0 release, the External Content Q&A Genius Results feature is being prepared for future deprecation. It will continue to be supported until it is deprecated. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Activation information

Review information on how to activate AI Search.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	AI Search is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.
Yokohama	AI Search is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.
Zurich	AI Search is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.
Australia	AI Search is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.

Additional requirements

If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for AI Search we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Browser requirements

If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for AI Search we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	AI Search doesn’t support Internet Explorer.
Yokohama	AI Search doesn’t support Internet Explorer.
Zurich	AI Search doesn’t support Internet Explorer.
Australia	AI Search doesn’t support Internet Explorer.

Accessibility information

Review details on accessibility information for AI Search, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich
Australia	No updates for this release.

Localization information

If there are specific localization considerations for AI Search we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	AI Search supports international languages. For details of language support by feature, see Internationalization support.
Yokohama	AI Search supports international languages. For details of language support by feature, see Internationalization support.
Zurich	AI Search supports international languages. For details of language support by feature, see Internationalization support.
Australia	AI Search supports international languages. For details of language support by feature, see Internationalization support.

Highlight information

If there are specific highlight considerations for AI Search we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Xanadu	Xanadu Patch 3: Expand search recall by indexing content from knowledge blocks. Xanadu: Surface information across multiple CMDB tables with NLQ Genius Results. Increase search precision for Japanese phrases that include nakaguro (中黒, middle dot) characters. Scroll through multiple Genius Result answer cards in a carousel to select the most actionable answer for your question. See AI Search for more information.
Yokohama	Yokohama Patch 11 Improve search precision and contextual relevance with hybrid search, available for customers with Now Assist in AI Search installed. Gain insights into search behavior with a refreshed and updated Search Preview UI. Yokohama Patch 6 Search more intuitively with an updated, consumer-grade user experience in search portals, global search, and workspace search. Yokohama Early Availability Restrict index size and increase search performance with guardrails that limit the number of Task and Alert table records indexed for search Customize the semantic vector search experience by configuring semantic indexing settings for your indexed sources Improve the focus of search results by excluding search sources in a search profile from being used to generate search results or Genius Result answers Expand search recall by indexing content from knowledge blocks Highlight important search results by boosting relevancy for results that match synonyms in a synonym dictionary See AI Search for more information.
Zurich	Zurich Patch 4 Improve search precision and contextual relevance with hybrid search, available for customers with Now Assist in AI Search installed. Gain insights into search behavior with a refreshed and updated Search Preview UI. Zurich Patch 1 Search more intuitively with an updated, consumer-grade user experience in search portals, global search, and workspace search. Zurich Early Availability Improve search precision by displaying external content search results in languages configured for the user's search session. Increase search recall by indexing searchable content and metadata from Multiple Choice and Select Box variables in records on the Catalog Item table and its child tables. See AI Search for more information.
Australia	Australia Patch 1 Provide actionable search and chat responses in global and workspace search with support for Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results. Improve search precision and contextual relevance with hybrid search. Augment the enhanced chat experience by configuring AI Search as the source for Ask Now Assist suggestions. Gain insights into search behavior with a refreshed and updated Search Preview UI. See AI Search for more information.