LLM assistants

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of LLM assistants

    LLM assistants in ServiceNow facilitate discovery and management of large language model (LLM) topics within Virtual Agent. The default LLM assistant, Now Assist in Virtual Agent, is created during the Conversational Interfaces Assistants guided setup. Associating topics with an LLM assistant is essential for those topics to be discoverable and testable from the Virtual Agent home page.

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    Without association to an LLM assistant, topics cannot be tested via the "Test assistant" option, which only appears when an assistant is selected through the "Select assistant" filter. Topic blocks or custom controls appear in the filtered view only if directly associated with the selected LLM assistant or called by a topic that is.

    Managing LLM assistants and topics

    When a topic is linked to a single LLM assistant, the assistant drop-down defaults to that assistant. Customers with multiple assistants can select the desired assistant from this menu. The Virtual Agent Designer home page provides quick navigation to the Conversational Interfaces Assistants page for reviewing or updating assistants.

    To make an LLM setup topic discoverable, it must be flagged as such on the home page after associating it with an assistant. This ensures the topic appears in assistant discovery and testing. For example, duplicating the Now Assist Live Agent setup topic requires flagging the duplicate as discoverable.

    Primary and secondary assistants

    The platform supports a framework of primary and secondary assistants to enable information sharing and create integrated user experiences with customized search, branding, and channels. A primary assistant can be linked to multiple secondary assistants and inherits their information sources, allowing it to respond to queries using combined knowledge.

    Certain configurations, like Knowledge Graph, must be managed per assistant. The primary assistant retains its own search application settings and activation flags for Now Assist skills. Conflicts in stop words are resolved using the most recent update. Knowledge Base boosting conditions should align between primary and secondary assistants.

    This linkage model is especially beneficial for organizations where different business units maintain their own assistants but want seamless information flow.

    Skill applicability per assistant

    Generative AI skills can be restricted to apply only to specific assistants. This is managed through the Generative AI Skill Applicabilities table, where administrators assign skills to assistants via the Context Profile setting. For example, a "Send Email" skill can be enabled for the Now Assist Panel assistant but disabled for others.

    Note that to modify applicability, the application scope must match the skill’s scope to avoid permission issues.

    LLM assistants help with large language model (LLM) topic discovery. The Now Assist in Virtual Agent assistant is the default LLM assistant created during the Conversational Interfaces Assistants guided setup.

    If LLM topics aren't associated with an LLM assistant, they aren't discoverable and can't be tested from the home page via Test assistant. The Test assistant option only appears if you have an assistant selected in the home page Select assistant filter.

    When using the Select assistant filter, topic blocks or custom controls that aren’t associated with an LLM assistant, but are called by a topic that's associated with an LLM assistant, appear in this filtered Select assistant home page view. Nested topic blocks or custom controls don’t appear in the filtered home page view unless they’re directly associated with an LLM assistant. For more information about testing LLM topics, see Testing LLM topics. When a topic is associated with only one LLM assistant, the Assistant drop-down list defaults to that assistant name. If you have multiple assistants, select which assistant you want to work with using the Assistant drop-down list. For more information about creating multiple LLM assistants, see Manage LLM virtual agents on the Assistants screen.

    Tip:
    On the Virtual Agent Designer home page, there's an Assistant settings option in the side panel. Use this option to navigate quickly to the Conversational Interfaces Assistants page to review or update your LLM assistants. For more information on the guided setup, see Configuring assistants overview.

    If you want your LLM setup topic to be discoverable in an LLM assistant, you must flag the active setup topic as discoverable. For example, if you create an LLM setup topic by duplicating the Now Assist Live Agent setup topic and want to associate the setup topic with an LLM assistant, you must flag the duplicated topic as discoverable. Flag the topic as discoverable on the home page once you create an LLM topic and associate it with an assistant. Select the More actions on this row icon next to your topic, and then select Discoverable. A checkmark appears by the text to indicate the topic is now discoverable.

    Figure 1. Discoverable option in Asset library
    Turn on the Discoverable option to make LLM setup topics available when working with LLM assistants.

    Primary and secondary assistants

    Primary and secondary assistants provide a framework enabling information flow between different assistants, with the flexibility to configure different experiences, such as search configuration, greeting, branding, and channels. The result is a seamless and integrated experience for the user.

    Now Assist in Virtual Agent assistants can be set as a primary assistant and linked to one or more secondary assistants. A primary assistant inherits the information sources of the secondary assistants. When a user engages with a primary assistant, it understands the query and responds to the question even if the information sources required are within the secondary assistants. For Knowledge Graph, however, configurations must be done for each assistant.

    A primary assistant uses search sources from secondary assistants. To set up your primary and secondary assistants, see Configuring assistants overview.

    Information that is and isn't shared when linking primary and secondary assistants includes:
    • Search application: The primary assistant uses its own settings.
    • Now Assist skills: The primary assistant uses its own activation flags regardless of the secondary assistant's configuration.
    • Stop words: When there's a conflict between the primary and secondary assistant, the most recent sys_updated_on value is used.
    • Knowledge Base boosting condition: The primary profile should mirror the rules of all of its secondary assistants.

    Using primary and secondary assistants is useful if different business units create and maintain their own assistants but want to have linkages between assistants to effectively share information.

    Figure 2. Primary and secondary assistants agentic workflow example
    Diagram of primary and secondary assistants.

    Applicability at an assistant level

    You can also control the applicability of a gen AI skill by assistant. When the applicability is set, the skill will only be applied to a specific assistant. To set the skill applicability:
    1. Navigate to All and enter sys_gen_ai_skill_applicability.list
    2. In the Generative AI Skill Applicabilities table, find the skill for which you want to set the applicability.
    3. In the Context Profile column, select the assistant for which you want access to the selected skill.
      Note:
      If you see a Security prevents writing to this field message, set your application scope to match the skill.

    In the following example, for the promoted generative AI skill - Send Email, when the context profile is set to the Now Assist Panel assistant, the skill appears when the assistant is called. But when the context profile is changed to a different assistant, the skill does not appear for the Now Assist Panel assistant.

    Setting context profile.