AI governance for Now Assist on the ServiceNow AI Platform

As organizations increasingly adopt AI to drive efficiency, innovation, and customer experience, AI governance becomes essential to ensure responsible use, regulatory compliance, and alignment with enterprise goals. Now Assist provides a comprehensive governance framework through key roles and applications that work together to manage AI across its life cycle.

AI policy considerations

The following policy considerations shape how AI is deployed, monitored, and maintained across the enterprise.

Data security and privacy

AI systems must comply with strict data handling protocols to protect sensitive information. This includes the following:

• Data classification rules for personally identifiable information, protected health information, and financial data.
• Encryption standards for data in transit and at rest.
• Data residency and sovereignty restrictions, which determine where data can be stored and processed.
• Retention and deletion policies that govern how long data is kept and when it must be purged.

Admins can configure Data Privacy for Now Assist to mask sensitive fields and control what is shared with third-party models. For details, see Data Privacy for Now Assist.

Compliance and regulations

AI deployments must adhere to a range of regulatory frameworks, including:

• HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, CCPA, and FedRAMP, depending on the industry and geography.
• Third-party/vendor risk management, especially when external models or services are used.
• Logging and traceability requirements help ensure accountability in AI decisions.

Legal reviews are often required before publishing documentation or releasing features, particularly when consolidating overlapping control objectives or addressing model transparency.

Responsible AI use

To ensure ethical and effective AI, organizations should enforce the following:

• Model approval and usage guidelines, including naming conventions and branding policies for AI agents.
• Bias and fairness safeguards, with AI Stewards evaluating risks like hallucination or exposure of sensitive data.
• Human oversight requirements, ensuring AI augments rather than replaces human judgment.
• Transparency obligations, such as disclosing the use of third-party models like Azure OpenAI in product documentation.

Governance and change management

AI governance is supported by structured oversight and change control processes:

• Definition, review, and approval of enterprise-wide guardrails and new use cases.
• Change control and rollout processes ensure that AI features are deployed safely and predictably.
• Incident response and escalation plans are in place to address issues such as data breaches or model failures.

AI policy stakeholders

The following groups set and execute AI policy in an organization:

Policy setters

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Technology Officer (CTO) sets the overall technology strategy, ensuring AI initiatives align with enterprise architecture and innovation goals. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) establishes data security and encryption standards to safeguard sensitive information across AI workflows. The Chief Data Officer (CDO) oversees data usage and governance, ensuring that AI systems handle data ethically and in accordance with organizational policies. Meanwhile, the Chief Privacy Officer and legal teams are responsible for regulatory compliance, ensuring that AI deployments meet requirements such as GDPR, HIPAA, and other jurisdictional or industry-specific standards. Together, these leaders form the foundation of AI governance, guiding implementation teams and administrators in deploying AI responsibly and securely.

Internal governance and oversight

Governance and oversight of AI in Now Assist is led by structured groups that define and enforce responsible use. An AI Governance Committee and Data Governance Council set enterprise-wide guardrails for AI, including standards for privacy, fairness, and compliance, and are responsible for reviewing and approving new AI use cases. Supporting these bodies, the AI Steward ensures that AI is used responsibly across workflows, overseeing data quality, managing risks such as bias or data exposure, and monitoring adherence to regulatory requirements. Additionally, AI Stewards monitor regulatory compliance, assess performance and user feedback, and work with admins and developers to optimize AI automation while minimizing risk.

Implementation and operations

Implementation and operations teams are responsible for securely deploying and managing AI features in alignment with governance policies. The Now Assist admin configures and manages Now Assist capabilities, ensuring that AI features are properly mapped to workflows and governed according to enterprise standards. Platform owners and ServiceNow admins oversee the deployment process, making sure that all configurations comply with established policies and technical requirements. Meanwhile, AI developers build, extend, and integrate AI features into business workflows, working closely with admins and platform teams to deliver scalable, compliant, and effective AI solutions. Together, these roles translate governance policies into secure, functional AI implementations.

For more information about AI governance user roles, see Roles installed with AI Risk and Compliance and Assign the data steward role.

For more resources about AI governance, see the following Best Practices topics:

• AI Governance White Paper
• Technical Governance Foundation Template
• Governance in operational phase: Roles and responsibilities

AI governance tools

Now Assist governance is specified in the following tools:

AI Control Tower

The AI Control Tower functions as the central hub for AI strategy, governance, and analytics within Now Assist. It offers enterprise-wide visibility into AI assets, usage patterns, and compliance status, enabling organizations to maintain oversight and accountability. Through automated discovery and inventory of approved AI assets, it streamlines asset management while embedding governance checks and compliance alerts to ensure that all AI deployments remain secure and aligned with organizational policies.

For more information, see AI Control Tower.

Now Assist Admin console

The Now Assist Admin console is key to managing AI governance by configuring policies, enforcing data handling rules, and ensuring compliance with security and privacy standards. Admins oversee provider policies at the skill level, track usage analytics like success rates and adoption, and collaborate with AI stewards and business SMEs to align AI with organizational goals. They also connect governance committees with technical teams to support smooth policy execution.

For more information, see Overview tab in Now Assist Admin.