Combined Now Assist in Virtual Agent release notes for upgrades from Zurich to Australia

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated May 4, 2026
  • 23 minutes to read
  • Consolidated page of all release notes for Now Assist in Virtual Agent from Zurich to Australia.

    How to use this page

    To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family Now Assist in Virtual Agent release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Zurich 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 Now Assist in Virtual Agent to Australia

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

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    No updates for this release.

    Australia

    New features

    Between your current release family and Australia, new features were introduced for Now Assist in Virtual Agent.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    Zurich Patch 9
    View assistants
    If you have the com.snc.ex_ai_portal (Employee Slate) app installed, the default Employee Slate assistant is shown, and Employee Slate is mapped to it by default. The default Employee Slate assistant can be activated, deactivated, edited, and tested. It can’t be deleted.
    Select a display experience
    The default Employee Slate assistant comes with premium chat. Premium chat is a contextual chat experience that appears throughout the platform, adapting its behavior and interface based on where users are and what they’re doing.
    Brand an assistant
    For the default Employee Slate assistant, configure premium chat branding. Select and configure the chat header, chat logo, and chat menu items such as a phone number, email, and link.
    A Channels section is shown for Now Assist in Virtual Agent assistants and the default Employee Slate assistant if a channel is configured in the display experience.
    Manage chat experience
    Depending on your configuration, different greeting, closing, and fallback options may appear. Legacy messages (chat messages) and legacy fallbacks (chat fallbacks) are shown when at least one display experience has standard chat or enhanced chat. Premium messages and premium fallbacks are shown when at least one display experience has premium chat.
    Test a chat assistant
    Test your chat assistant (standard, enhanced, or premium chat) to simulate an end-to-end conversation before moving your experience into a production environment.
    Now Assist in Virtual Agent on mobile
    Use the modified version of Now Assist in Virtual Agent on your mobile device. This redesigned version adapts to smaller screens without losing functionality or clarity.
    Zurich Patch 8
    Clarifying questions for unclear requests
    Get precise, relevant answers from Now Assist in Virtual Agent premium chat even when your request is unclear, as the assistant asks you a targeted clarifying question before responding instead of returning an overwhelming list of results. When the assistant is confident that it understands your request, it responds immediately without interrupting the conversation.
    Upload documents
    Upload documents directly into a Now Assist in Virtual Agent conversation during topic, skill, catalog, or agent execution, and let the assistant extract information from them to automatically fill in required fields, answer questions, and keep the conversation moving. Uploaded document context is retained for the duration of the session and cleared when the session ends to protect your data.
    Configuring assistants overview
    For new and upgrading customers, Now Assist panel - Platform assistant comes with the option to opt into premium chat if your instance meets certain criteria. For more information, see Premium chat and [Placeholder link text to key display-nap-assistant].
    Display assistant on Platform or ServiceNow Studio
    If you're a new or upgrading customer and you have opted into the premium chat experience, legacy messages (formerly chat messages) and legacy fallbacks (formerly chat fallbacks) settings aren't automatically migrated. You must review, configure, and customize them in premium messages and premium fallbacks.
    Note:
    ServiceNow performs a set of readiness checks to confirm that your instance is eligible for premium chat. If your instance doesn’t meet the requirements, you can continue using your existing standard or enhanced chat experience. After an upgrade, there may be a delay before premium chat is available to choose from.
    Brand an assistant
    Brand your Now Assist panel – Platform assistant's chat header and chat logo, if you have premium chat set up.
    Manage chat experience
    Now Assist panel – Platform assistant has premium messages and premium fallback capabilities.
    Note:
    For premium fallbacks, web search fallback is dependent on your web search mode setting in Enable additional chat features. If web search mode is turned off, web search fallback is unavailable. If web search mode is turned on, web search fallback is available where you can turn it on or off.
    Feedback surveys are supported in both standard chat and enhanced chat experiences. When enhanced chat is enabled, the survey is automatically triggered when the user indicates that they are finished chatting, based on the assistant’s survey configuration.
    Edit a chat assistant
    Edit an assistant to turn response feedback on or off. For more information, see Manage response feedback.
    Now Assist in Virtual Agent system properties
    Turn premium chat on or off for the Now Assist panel – Platform assistant using the sn_nowassist_va.enable_nap_aix_experience system property. The default value is set to false. When the system property is set to false, you can switch back to your previous state (standard chat or enhanced chat) from the Assistant Designer chat experience modal. When the system property is set to true, you won't have the option to make edits to the chat experience. Premium chat is only available if your instance meets all requirements.
    Zurich Patch 7
    Start NAVA conversations from anywhere
    Start a Now Assist in Virtual Agent premium chat from any page in the Employee Hub with a single click, without interrupting existing workflows. You can upload files, toggle web search on or off, and receive a personalized greeting with promoted topics when opening a new conversation.
    Response feedback
    Provide more detailed feedback on Now Assist in Virtual Agent responses by selecting thumbs up or thumbs down, then choosing from configurable check box options or adding your own comments to explain exactly what was helpful or what fell short. Your feedback is captured and made available through analytics dashboards, helping admins continuously improve the quality of the responses that you receive.
    Use natural-language questions
    Enable users to ask natural-language questions and receive concise, synthesized answers while maintaining transparency, trust, and efficient task completion.
    New building block framework
    Provide a consistent, reusable building block framework for the NextWave web experience using primitives and widgets.
    New Include Web results button
    Enable a web search experience that includes a Include Web results button in the input box that includes internal and external web results.
    Test voice agents
    Test voice agents directly in Assistant Designer with live transcription, tool execution tracking, and conversation logs.
    Dutch and Thai language support
    Dutch and Thai language support for voice assistants enables users to experience natural pronunciation and culturally appropriate interactions with AI voice agents.
    Zurich Patch 4
    Assistant Designer
    Create and manage LLM-based chat and voice assistants within Assistant Designer, a centralized assistant administrator experience. Assistant Designer is comprised of three main areas: Assistants, Asset library, and Analytics.
    Configuring assistants overview
    • Access the Assistants tab within Assistant Designer by navigating to All > Assistant Designer. The Assistants tab is only available for customers who have the Now Assist license. NLU-only customers don't have access to Assistant Designer.
    View assistants
    • View chat and voice assistants within the Assistants tab of Assistant Designer.
      • The card view is the default view for the assistants.
      • An inactive (gray) or active (green) label is shown for each assistant.
      • Activate, deactivate, test, edit, or delete an assistant.
      • A display experience label is shown on each chat assistant card.
      • A domain label is shown on assistant cards if an assistant is created outside of the global domain. If assistants are only created within the global domain, the label isn’t shown.
      • The ability to view or edit an assistant depends on the domain that the admin has access to.
      • The name and date are shown for when the assistant was last updated.
      • Voice assistants show a voice icon and label on the card. Voice assistants can't be tested within Assistant Designer.
      • The map view shows the assistant hierarchy where you can open, turn on or off, or delete an assistant.
    • View the side panel for quick access to Pick up where you left off, Recent activity, and Resources.
    Create a voice assistant
    • Start creating an AI voice assistant by providing a name and description. Tag to a business unit to analyze your voice assistant.
    • Power your voice assistant with agentic experience by adding AI agents.
    • Personalize your voice assistant by choosing a language, adding a welcome message, and an AI voice persona.
      Note:
      The supported languages are:
      • English
      • German
      • Spanish
    • Secure the voice interactions by setting up caller authentication methods and safeguards.
    Create a chat assistant
    • Add basic details such as a name and description for your chat assistant, and set your assistant as a primary assistant. The Basic details page within the UI has replaced the Overview page.
    • Now Assist panel – Platform (default) assistant can be set as a primary assistant and linked to secondary assistants. Now Assist panel – Developer assistant doesn't have this option.
    • The name and description of the Now Assist panel assistants can't be changed.
    Use agentic support
    • Let the assistant use AI agent skills and agentic orchestration. Admins can choose between agentic or standard (Q&A) modes depending on business needs and user experience goals. Turn on or off the Prioritize AI agents during skills discovery feature.
    Assign search sources
    • Restore search sources back to the default (Now Assist Multi-Turn Catalog Ordering and Now Assist Q&A).
    • Now Assist panel - Platform (default) assistant now has the option to copy an existing search configuration.
    • Dynamic global search configuration has been added to the list of search application configurations.
    • Create or configure additional search sources by selecting the External Content Connectors link. This replaces a card view.
    • Manage knowledge articles by selecting the Knowledge Center link.
    • In edit mode, search sources are found within the Information Sources sub-tab.
    Add a Knowledge Graph schema
    • Adding a Knowledge Graph schema has moved from the Information sources page to its own page.
    • Add a Knowledge Graph schema is now available for the Now Assist panel - Platform (default) assistant. For the NLQ schema, if Global Graph or Global Graph Mini is selected, you have the option to select tags for specific workspaces that are active on the instance.
    • Define the mapping relationship between individual workspaces on the instance and predefined Knowledge Graph tags when Global Schema is selected for NLQ.
    • In edit mode, Knowledge Graph is found within the Information Sources sub-tab.
    Add assets
    • By default, all Now Assist skills (Now Assist Q&A, Now Assist multi-turn catalog ordering, Now Assist topics, subflows and actions, custom skills, and AI agents) are turned on. Therefore, the Now Assist skills page has been removed.
    • Map an asset to an assistant. Assets are the building blocks of each assistant, providing them with instructions and functionality for helping users. Assets include topics, subflows and actions, custom skills, and AI agents. For Now Assist panel - Developer assistant, only topics (asset type) is available.
    • In edit mode, assets are found within the Information Sources sub-tab.
    Select a display experience
    • Leverage Now Assist capabilities in Google chat.
    • Use Prominent action button override to allow a different chat assistant other than the default assistant to be launched on a mobile app.
    • In edit mode, display experiences are found within the Settings sub-tab.
    Display assistant on Platform or ServiceNow Studio
    • The Add ServiceNow Platform drop-down menu has replaced the Add agent experience drop-down menu. A Now Assist panel assistant can't be added to other display experiences.
    • In edit mode, display experiences are found within the Settings sub-tab.
    Brand an assistant
    • Minor enhancements to the look-and-feel of the standard chat preview pane.
    • In edit mode, branding is found within the Settings sub-tab.
    Manage chat experience
    • A standard chat preview pane is shown for the default greeting topic (Now Assist – Greeting) and the default closing topic (Now Assist – Closing). Selecting custom topics won’t show a preview pane.
    • Fallbacks have a standard chat preview pane and each fallback is shown if toggled on.
    • For the Now Assist panel - Platform (default) assistant, web search, record producer, and custom fallback are available options. End this chat and survey are available for the standard chat experience.
    • In edit mode, the chat experience is found within the Settings sub-tab.
    Enable additional chat features
    • Web search, response streaming, document uploads, and closed chat were moved from the Manage chat experience page to its own page. By default all chat features except web search are turned on.
    • Response streaming can be turned on at the assistant level regardless of whether Dynamic Translation is turned on or off. However, response streaming doesn't work when Dynamic Translation is being used.
    • In addition to web search, response streaming, document uploads, and closed chat, the Now Assist panel Platform assistant has voice input. Voice input enables users to use a microphone to enter the input.
    • In edit mode, additional chat features are found within the Settings sub-tab.
    Review settings
    • New sections that have been added include: Agentic support, Knowledge Graphs, Assets, and Chat features.
    • Testing an assistant has been removed from the Review page.
    Test a chat assistant
    • Test a chat assistant from the Assistant Designer > Assistants tab or from within each page while in edit mode.
    Edit a chat assistant
    • Edit a chat assistant from Assistant Designer > Assistants tab. You will be directed through an edit flow with a slightly different UI from the create flow.
    Analyzing assistants
    • Monitor, evaluate, and optimize the performance of your AI-powered assistants within the Analytics tab of Assistant Designer.
    Copy received messages
    Use the copy message icon in the feedback panel to copy received Virtual Agent responses.
    New system properties
    • Set the com.glide.cs.nass.synthesized_response.disabled_popover.hide property to true to hide the popover for disabled catalog items for Now Assist in Virtual Agent and the Now Assist panel's enhanced chat.
    • Set the sn_ais_assist.enable_pi_in_nba property to true to enable conversational history-based suggested actions and fill multiple suggested action slot options.
    • View the sn_nowassist_va.enable_nass_show_all_options property to decide whether to allow the View all options link in an enhanced chat conversation's greeting topic.
    • The com.glide.interactive_view.enabled property opens an interactive side panel view next to the chat window. The default value is true to activate AI Engagement Experience on your instance.
    View org chart in the interactive view
    Select View org chart from the people citation's popover in the Now Assist panel's enhanced chat or Now Assist in Virtual Agent enhanced chat/enhanced chat's full-page experience. The person's organizational chart appears next to the chat conversation in an area known as the interactive view. You can switch between multiple organizational charts via a drop-down in the interactive view if you open multiple people citations' org charts in the same conversation.
    Zurich Patch 2
    Select continue or move to next task button
    The Continue to next task button appears in the new Ready to move on to your next task card whenever multiple questions are found in a single standard chat user's message. The Move on to the next task citation appears at the end of an enhanced chat's synthesized response whenever multiple questions or requests are found along with an action in the user's single message. Whenever either Continue to next task (standard chat) or Move on to the next task (enhanced chat) is selected, the second question or request is reviewed and a synthesized response is sent back regarding the user's second question or request.
    Multiple questions in a single user message are answered consecutively
    Virtual Agent can answer multiple questions that were submitted in a single message query. Now Assist panel or Now Assist in Virtual Agent answers the multiple questions consecutively in a response.
    Now Assist in Virtual Agent system properties
    Use sn_aia.use_agents_in_planner to configure AI agent discovery behavior. The default value is true, preferring AI agents over assets including catalogs, topics, Q&A knowledge base articles, workflows, and sub-workflows. When set to false, there’s no preference for AI agents. AI agents and assets are treated the same.
    New defaults for Now LLM Service
    Now Assist in Virtual Agent and Now Assist panel will use an upgraded Now LLM Service as the default. For more information, see the Now LLM Service Upgrade FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About the v2.0 Model Transition [KB2556891] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.
    Zurich Patch 1
    Configure additional user interface and experience options for enhanced chat
    Customize and configure the Search Toggle Button Label for enhanced chat's full-page experience. Additionally, you can configure the Enable Unread Conversation Count Display and Left Panel Header Label for enhanced chat and enhanced chat's full-page experience.
    New third-party AI model provider options available for Now Assist
    Google Gemini and AWS Claude are available for Now Assist skills and AI agents in addition to Now LLM Service and Azure OpenAI.
    View agentic conversations processing steps
    View agentic conversational processing steps and stop the flow, if needed.
    View extended entities and records
    View extended entities and records in standard and enhanced chat conversations that come from the additional custom tables associated with the Knowledge Graph Natural Language Query (NLQ) schema such as:
    • Assets
    • Incidents
    • Recently viewed knowledge base articles
    • Requests
    • Tasks
    View suggested queries in the portal’s search bar and chat window
    View the most frequently asked queries in the portal’s search bar and enhanced chat’s Virtual Agent. Any search query entered into the portal’s search bar or Virtual Agent is incorporated into the greeting topic for future conversations as a suggested query. Suggested queries are only included in the Virtual Agent greeting topic whenever no promoted assets are designated.
    Work with suggested queries
    Two system properties were added to enable the suggested queries feature: sn_nowassist_va.enable_suggested_queries and sn_nowassist_va.max_suggested_queries.
    Configure AI search answers OneExtend capability for web search
    Configure the AI Search answers capability via sys_one_extend_capability.list to establish the web search AI provider and work with API keys, if needed.
    Expanding AI provider support for web search
    OpenAI, Perplexity, and Google Gemini support web search.
    Configuring assistants overview
    Enhancements to Now Assist in Virtual Agent assistants and Now Assist panel Platform and Developer assistants. Options vary for Now Assist panel assistants.

    Create a chat assistant

    • Configure assistants by domain.

    Select a display experience

    • Now Assist in Virtual Agent: For mobile search widgets, enable the search bar to open into a full-page experience.

    Display assistant on Platform or ServiceNow Studio

    • Now Assist panel Platform assistant: Enable enhanced chat for a conversational experience that includes a dynamic, movable, and resizable chat window, plus access to multiple active conversations.
    • Now Assist panel Developer assistant: Not applicable.

    Assign search sources

    • Now Assist in Virtual Agent:
      • Add internal and external search sources, such as catalog items and Microsoft SharePoint, from a drop-down list.
      • Add a slot filling schema to input user information from your organization's Knowledge Graph. Add a Natural Language Query schema to enable users to perform a data query during a conversation.
    • Now Assist panel Platform assistant:
      • Add internal and external search sources, such as catalog items and Microsoft SharePoint, from a drop-down list.
      • Add a slot filling schema to input user information from your organization's Knowledge Graph. Add a Natural Language Query schema to enable users to perform a data query during a conversation.
    • Now Assist panel Developer assistant: Not applicable.

    Manage chat experience

    • Now Assist in Virtual Agent:
      • Select a custom greeting topic, closing topic, error topic, and survey for your assistant.
      • Select one or more fallback options: live agent, web search, record producer, end this chat, and custom fallback.
      • Enable the web search fallback option and web search mode to enable users to search the web from within a chat window.
    • Now Assist panel Platform assistant:
      • Select a custom greeting topic or error topic for your assistant.
      • Fallback options don't apply to Now Assist panel Platform assistant.
      • Enable web search mode to enable users to search the web from within a chat window.
    • Now Assist panel Developer assistant: Not applicable.
    Now Assist panel
    Use the enhanced Now Assist panel for a more intuitive and personalized experience. The updated Now Assist panel is resizable and can be moved anywhere on the ServiceNow AI platform.

    Australia

    Changes

    Between your current release family and Australia, some changes were made to existing Now Assist in Virtual Agent features.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    Zurich Patch 5
    Changes to Now Assist usage measurement
    Zurich Patch 4
    Conversational Platform Now Assist skills are active by default
    The following Platform Now Assist skills are active by default and no longer visible in the Now Assist Admin console:
    • Now Assist Multi-Turn Catalog Ordering
    • Now Assist Q&A Genius Results
    • Now Assist Topics
    • Subflows and actions
    • Custom skills
    • AI agents
    Zurich Patch 1
    Additional fallback options
    There are up to five fallback options that can be presented to end users:
    • Search the web: Triggers web search mode and uses the internet to search for the results.
      Note:
      Only the last query entered into the conversation is considered when entering web search mode via the fallback option.
    • Request a live chat: Triggers live agent mode and routes you to a human support representative.
    • Create a generic ticket: Creates a record.
    • End this chat: Ends the chat.
      Note:
      This option is only available to standard chat conversations.
    • Custom fallback option: Presents a fallback Virtual Agent topic.
    Web search mode enhancements
    Manually enter into web search mode via the input bar for standard and enhanced chat conversations. Web search mode includes in-line citations and the associated sources. A web search mode banner appears in enhanced chat conversations that end users can use to end the mode.
    Profanity recognition response
    If Now Assist Guardian is enabled and the end user's request contains profane content, the Virtual Agent responds with a message prompt to re-enter an appropriate request without profanity or offensive content.

    Australia

    New experience
    The new provides a more efficient, streamlined way for you to work. For information about how to upgrade, see . Note that is still supported in this release.

    Removed

    Between your current release family and Australia, some Now Assist in Virtual Agent features or functionality were removed.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    No updates for this release.

    Australia

    Deprecations

    Between your current release family and Australia, some Now Assist in Virtual Agent features or functionality were deprecated.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    • In Patch 4, the sn_aia.use_agents_in_planner system property has been removed. The system property was used for configuring AI agent discovery behavior.
    • In Patch 4, the Now Assist skills page in the assistant admin guided setup has been removed due to the skills being turned on by default.
    • In Patch 1, Bing support for the searching and scraping search result type is no longer supported when adding a web search tool in Now Assist Skill Kit.

    Australia

    No updates for this release.

    Activation information

    Review information on how to activate Now Assist in Virtual Agent.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    Note:
    When you upgrade to Zurich Patch 2 or later, agentic AI is the primary orchestration in Virtual Agent. For more information about agentic AI, see Agentic conversations in Virtual Agent.
    Now Assist features are available with activation of any Now Assist plugin from the ServiceNow Store. The following products are available:

    For more information, see Configuring assistants overview.

    Australia

    Additional requirements

    If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Now Assist in Virtual Agent we have noted them here.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    Now Assist in Virtual Agent requires a license for Virtual Agent and at least one Now Assist product.

    Australia

    Browser requirements

    If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Now Assist in Virtual Agent we have noted them here.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    Now Assist in Virtual Agent supports various browsers, including Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. For more information, see Browser support.

    Australia

    Accessibility information

    Review details on accessibility information for Now Assist in Virtual Agent, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    Australia

    Localization information

    If there are specific localization considerations for Now Assist in Virtual Agent we have noted them here.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    Dynamic Translation is supported for non-streaming Now Assist Virtual Agent conversations. For details, see Configure multilingual service for Now Assist applications, Language detection and dynamic translation in enhanced chat, and Language detection and dynamic translation in standard chat.

    Australia

    Highlight information

    If there are specific highlight considerations for Now Assist in Virtual Agent we have noted them here.

    Release Release notes

    Zurich

    Zurich Patch 9
    • Use Now Assist in Virtual Agent on your mobile device.
    • The default Employee Slate assistant comes with premium chat. Premium chat is a contextual chat experience that appears throughout the platform, adapting its behavior and interface based on where users are and what they’re doing.
    Zurich Patch 8
    • Use the Now Assist in Virtual Agent clarification feature to get direct answers to ambiguous requests. If your question can apply to multiple topics, the assistant asks a follow-up question to narrow down your intent before responding.
    • Opt into premium chat for your Now Assist panel - Platform assistant. Your instance must first meet certain prerequisites. Premium chat is an AI chat experience built into your ServiceNow environment that lets you ask questions, get answers from your organization's knowledge, and take action on records — all in one place. It supports file uploads, web search, and multi-step agentic tasks, so that you can handle more complex requests without leaving the panel.
    • Brand your Now Assist panel – Platform assistant, if you have premium chat set up.
    Zurich Patch 7
    • Start a Now Assist in Virtual Agent conversation from anywhere in the Employee Hub.
    • Provide response feedback to Now Assist in Virtual Agent responses.
    • Use natural-language questions and receive concise, synthesized answers.
    Zurich Patch 5
    • Review changes to Now Assist usage measurement.
    • Japanese language support for voice assistants enables Japanese-speaking users to experience natural, culturally appropriate interactions with AI voice agents.
    Zurich Patch 4
    • Some Now Assist skills, agents, and agentic workflows are now turned on by default.
    • Create and manage LLM-based chat and voice assistants within Assistant Designer, a centralized assistant administrator experience.
    • View a people citation's org chart in the interactive view. The interactive view opens next to the chat conversation area.
    • Notice several UI improvements to enhanced chat and enhanced chat's full-page experience, including an updated input bar, gradient borders, copy message icon for received messages, and more.
    • Turn on voice input to enable users to use a microphone to enter the input. Voice input is only available for Now Assist panel Platform assistant.
    Zurich Patch 1
    • Use Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude on AWS as AI model providers for Now Assist skills and AI agents in addition to Now LLM Service and Azure OpenAI.
    • Use agentic conversations and view agentic conversational processing flow steps.
    • View extended entities and records in standard and enhanced chat conversations if they’re associated with the Knowledge Graph Natural Language Query (NLQ) schema.
    • View suggested search queries previously performed in the portal's search bar within enhanced chat conversations.
    • Work with the simplified subheader of enhanced chat.
    • Delete closed enhanced chat conversations.
    • Expand the fallback options.
    • Enter into web search mode manually via the input bar.

    See Now Assist in Virtual Agent for more information.

    Australia

    See for more information.