Now Assist Q&A Genius Results

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated October 3, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    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 Now Assist Q&A Genius Results

    Now Assist Q&A Genius Results leverage the Now LLM Service to generate concise, actionable answer snippets from knowledge articles. These answers appear in Service Portal, Virtual Agent, Employee Center, and global searches. Each answer card can show up to three snippets, with links to the full source articles for further reference. The feature uses semantic vector and keyword search to find the most relevant knowledge articles based on the user's query.

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    Important: Since the Now Assist in AI Search 11 release, Q&A Genius Results are in maintenance mode without updates or support. Customers are encouraged to use the enhanced Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results for improved functionality.

    Enabling and Usage

    Administrators can enable Now Assist Q&A Genius Results in AI Search portals, mobile apps, and global search through designated setup modules and applications. Once activated, all users of the search application can access these AI-generated answers.

    Search administrators can customize query filters using Java regular expressions and set minimum search term counts to control when Q&A Genius Results trigger.

    Answer Generation and Content Handling

    The Now LLM Service automatically extracts and summarizes relevant text from knowledge articles' HTML fields to create answer snippets. These snippets may not be exact quotes but are abstracted summaries. Up to three snippets can be shown per answer card, sourced from one or multiple articles. Because the generation process is non-deterministic, answer variability is expected.

    Customers should review generated answers for accuracy and can provide feedback via thumbs-up or thumbs-down icons, helping improve future results.

    Language Support and Dynamic Translation

    By default, Q&A Genius Results support English-language searches. For multilingual support, administrators can enable Dynamic Translation, allowing AI Search to generate answers from non-English articles and translate answers into the user's language, enhancing the international search experience.

    Interaction with Other Search Features

    • Result Improvement Rules: Blocked records are excluded from answer generation; boosted or promoted records are more likely to be included.
    • Stop Words: Semantic vector search used does not support stop words, so stop word settings affect only the keyword-based portion of the search.
    • Synonyms: Synonym expansion applies to keyword searches, improving answer relevance where applicable.
    • Typo Handling: Misspelled terms in queries are corrected to enhance search accuracy.

    Limitations and Considerations

    • Q&A Genius Results currently support mostly English unless Dynamic Translation is enabled.
    • Knowledge articles from external content sources are excluded if the External Content Connectors application is installed.
    • Knowledge search property settings do not impact Q&A Genius Results.
    • Because answers are AI-generated, review and validation of results are recommended.

    Performance Optimization

    AI Search implements query-time caching to improve performance by reusing previously generated answers, reducing the need to call the Now LLM Service repeatedly.

    Practical Impact for ServiceNow Customers

    This feature enables customers to provide end users with quick, summarized answers drawn from existing knowledge articles, improving user experience across multiple ServiceNow search interfaces. While currently maintained without active updates, it remains a viable option for AI-generated knowledge article answers, with enhanced alternatives available for those seeking more advanced capabilities.

    Now Assist Q&A Genius Results use the Now LLM Service to generate concise, actionable answers from knowledge article results in Service Portal, Virtual Agent, Employee Center, and global searches.

    Important:
    Starting with the Now Assist in AI Search 11 release, the Now Assist Q&A Genius Results feature is in maintenance mode. This feature will remain available but will not be updated or supported. Similar and improved functionality is available in the newer Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results feature. For more details on this feature, see Now Assist Multi-Content Response Genius Results.

    Now Assist Q&A Genius Results overview

    Now Assist Q&A Genius Results send the most relevant knowledge articles from your search to the Now LLM Service, which generates answer snippets from the articles' HTML fields.

    Each Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answer card displays up to three generated answer snippets. For reference, the answer card also includes a link you can select to view the source knowledge articles.

    The following example shows a Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answer card containing a snippet summarizing a knowledge article. Select the answer card's View article action link to view the full knowledge article.
    Figure 1. Sample Now Assist Q&A answer card
    Now Assist Q&A answer card showing generated answer banner, knowledge article summary snippet, source knowledge article title, View article action link, information link, and thumbs-up and thumbs-down feedback links.
    Note:
    Because the Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answer is automatically generated, it's a good idea to review it for accuracy. You can provide feedback on the answer by selecting the thumbs-up icon if the generated answer is accurate, or the thumbs-down icon if it's not. Your feedback helps ServiceNow improve future versions of this Genius Result configuration.

    Now Assist Q&A Genius Results use semantic vector search and legacy keyword search to find knowledge articles that best match the meaning and intent of your search query. For more details on semantic vector search, see Semantic vector search in AI Search.

    The Now Assist Q&A Genius Result configuration replaces the original Q&A Genius Result configuration from the base system. The base system's Q&A Genius Result configuration extracts answers from knowledge articles using internal routines instead of using the Now LLM Service. To learn more about the base system's Q&A Genius Result configuration, see Q&A Genius Results.

    Enabling Now Assist Q&A Genius Results

    You can enable Now Assist Q&A Genius Results in your AI Search portals and mobile applications using the Now Assist in AI Search Setup module. For details on this procedure, see Enable Now Assist Genius Results in AI Search portals and mobile applications.

    To use Now Assist Q&A Genius Results in global search, you can enable the Now Assist Q&A Genius Result configuration in the AI Search for Next Experience application. For details on this procedure, see Enabling Now Assist Q&A Genius Results.
    Note:
    When you activate Now Assist Q&A Genius Results in a search application, they're available to all users who search using that application.

    Limitations

    By default, Now Assist Q&A Genius Results only support English-language searches. Administrators can enable support for other languages by activating Dynamic Translation. To learn more about how content and answers are translated, see Dynamic Translation for Now Assist Q&A Genius Results. For more details on Dynamic Translation, see Dynamic Translation.

    Knowledge articles that are boosted or promoted by result improvement rules are more likely to appear as Now Assist Q&A Genius Results, but aren't guaranteed to appear.
    Note:
    The Knowledge search property settings don't affect Now Assist Q&A Genius Results. For more information on these settings, see Knowledge search properties.

    If you have the External Content Connectors ServiceNow® Store application installed, Now Assist Q&A Genius Results exclude search results retrieved from external content source systems when generating answers.

    Answer snippet creation for Now Assist Q&A Genius Results

    AI Search uses the Now LLM Service to create each Now Assist Q&A answer snippet from a knowledge article record's HTML fields. Each Now Assist Q&A answer card can include up to three snippets. These snippets may all be generated from the same source article or from different source articles.

    Now LLM Service automatically determines which elements of a knowledge article's text to include in a Now Assist Q&A answer snippet. You can't configure the criteria for this behavior.

    The Now LLM Service summarizes and abstracts content from the knowledge articles' text fields. Answer snippets displayed on Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answer cards may not exist word for word in the source records.

    Both AI Search content retrieval and the Now LLM Service are continually improving, so Now Assist Q&A results for specific queries may vary over time. Because results from the Now LLM Service are non-deterministic, you should expect a higher answer variability compared to the base system's Q&A Genius Results.

    Interaction with other search features

    The following table describes the interactions between Now Assist Q&A Genius Results and other search features.

    Feature Interaction with Now Assist Q&A Genius Results
    Result improvement rules When computing Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answers for a search query, AI Search applies result improvement rules normally.
    The effects depend on the result improvement rule's action, as follows:
    • block: Now Assist Q&A Genius Results don't generate answers from blocked records.
    • boost or promote: Boosted and promoted records are more likely to be used when generating Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answers.
    Stop words Now Assist Q&A Genius Results use a blend of semantic vector search, which doesn't support stop words, and keyword-based search. AI Search only removes stop words from keyword-based searches, so Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answers may not reflect your stop words settings.
    Synonyms Now Assist Q&A Genius Results use a blend of semantic vector search, which doesn't support synonyms, and keyword-based search. AI Search expands synonyms in keyword-based searches, so your synonyms are likely to improve the relevancy of Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answers.
    Typo handling When computing Now Assist Q&A Genius Result answers for a search query, AI Search corrects misspelled terms in the query.