Everything you need to know about ServiceNow GenAI

How does ServiceNow use AI?

By integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI), ServiceNow is rapidly transforming the enterprise software landscape and enhancing their platform’s capabilities.  

To ensure effective change, we need an in-depth understanding of ServiceNow AI. A solid understanding of different AI capabilities and types within ServiceNow helps organizations unlock the full potential of their digital transformation initiatives. 

How does ServiceNow use Large Language Models (LLM)?

ServiceNow uses the power of various LLMs to augment its functionalities, particularly through the Now LLM and Azure OpenAI integrations within the Now Assist feature. Users can activate plugins for summarization, code generation, and note generation. This significantly expands the platform’s capabilities.

The Now LLM, built on the GPT-43b architecture with an encoder-decoder mechanism, is tailored with domain-specific data to meet unique enterprise needs. Moreover, Azure OpenAI’s customizations for ServiceNow further enriches these capabilities. 

For more info on the Generative AI Controller, check out Exploring Generative AI Controller: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-intelligent-experiences/page/administer/generative-ai-controller/concept/exploring-generative-ai-controller.html  

For more information on which LLMs ‘Now Assist’ uses, check out Reference for Now Assist: https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=now-llm-model-updates.html&version=latest  

What is the difference between AI and Gen AI in ServiceNow?

Most people mix up Gen AI and AI, but they aren’t the same. AI is broad and includes different technologies that help machines perform tasks requiring advanced reasoning capabilities. ServiceNow uses AI capabilities such as  predictive intelligence, document intelligence, and task intelligence.  

Gen AI, on the other hand, is a type of AI that creates original content from training or existing data. It is used in the Generative AI Controller  and Now Assist.

How does ServiceNow use Generative AI?

On a high level there are two main options when it comes to Gen AI with ServiceNow; Now Assist and Generative AI Controller. 

Now Assist is a set of capabilities provided by ServiceNow, while the Generative AI Controller lets you build your own capabilities by integrating with a third-party AI.

What is ServiceNow Now Assist?

ServiceNow’s Now Assist uses the Now LLM and Azure Open AI’s LLM to offer Assistive capabilities like chat summarization, case summarization, notes generation, text to code, and search improvements.  

This makes it easier to find the right information while interacting with the Now Platform. As of now, this functionality isn’t customizable, but it’s in the process of expanding. Planned enhancements include knowledge article generation, text to flow, and text to process.

What is ServiceNow Generative AI Controller?

ServiceNow’s Generative AI Controller helps seamless integration with leading AI models, including OpenAI, Azure Open AI, and Google Gemini.  

By leveraging ServiceNow’s spokes, users can integrate functionalities such as summarization, code generation, and sentiment analysis, and build their own custom capabilities based on these AI models.  

This integration requires proper licensing and configuration with the chosen third-party AI provider, allowing customization and enhancement of ServiceNow’s capabilities.

What is the difference between AI, Generative AI, and Machine Learning in ServiceNow?

At the core of ServiceNow’s AI lies the distinction between AI, Generative AI, and Machine Learning.  

Large language models and the Now Assist Gen AI Controller fall within deep learning which is a subset of machine learning.

ServiceNow not only incorporates deep learning but also offers machine learning capabilities such as regression, classification, and clustering within its Predictive Intelligence suite. 

The broader AI domain includes both machine learning and deep learning, facilitating a range of AI-driven features on the ServiceNow platform. These range from AI Search to Natural Language Query and Process Mining.

What are ServiceNow's AI capabilities?

ServiceNow has many AI features designed to streamline operations and enhance user experience. Key capabilities include: 

• AI Search: Enhancing search efficiency and relevance across the platform. 
• Automation Discovery: Identifying automation opportunities within processes. 
• Document Intelligence: Extracting and processing information from documents. 
• Natural Language Understanding: Interpreting and acting on user commands in natural language. 
• Task Intelligence: Automating task assignments based on AI insights. 
• Natural Language Query: Facilitating database queries in natural language. 
• Process Mining: Analyzing process flows to identify improvement areas. 

These capabilities allow organizations to leverage AI without needing an in-depth knowledge of specific models or integrations.  

By configuring and enabling various plugins, ServiceNow users can readily tap into the power of AI, enhancing operational efficiency and decision-making. 

What are some tips to navigate Gen AI successfully? 

What sets ServiceNow Gen AI apart from other Gen AI solutions is that it uses the Now LLM, which is a specific Large Language Model trained on domain-specific data. This makes it more context-accurate and cost-effective than generic LLMs. For successful and responsible ServiceNow Gen AI navigation, a strategic approach is important. You must understand the nuances of AI and the differences between the various AI capabilities already present in ServiceNow. 

How to get started with Gen AI in ServiceNow? 

Here are some tips from our ServiceNow Gen AI experts: 

1. Ensure Organizational preparedness: Ensure data literacy among teams. Train employees to understand data and the possibilities and limitations of AI. This way, employees are empowered to understand and challenge AI. Clean and organize your data to ensure its quality and availability. Correct data is the fuel that powers AI, so it is crucial to have a solid foundation of accurate and relevant data and CMDB.
2. Start small and scale:
   
   1) Define Your Business Case: Start with a clear understanding of the business cases where AI, specifically Gen AI can add value to your organization. Consider areas where content generation, automation, or data analysis can drive efficiency and improve outcomes. You can also contact specialists and experts to align capabilities with requirements.
   
   2) Pilot: Begin with a pilot project or proof of concept to test the effectiveness of Gen AI in your organization with functionalities like text summarization.
   
   3) Evaluate: Think of ways to evaluate and assess AI outcomes when defining the business case. Define the KPIs and measures to be used. Specify the data set or control. Then evaluate against those measures.4) Celebrate: Celebrate successes in your organization. Promote the result and hype people and business units to come up with their business cases.
   
   5) Scale: Expand to more complex functionalities, and gradually scale up the usage of Gen AI across different departments or processes. 
   

How does ServiceNow ensure responsible AI practices with Gen AI? 

ServiceNow emphasizes responsible AI usage by prioritizing data privacy, marking AI-generated responses, as “AI generated”, and ensuring traceability to sources.

How can you make use of (Gen) AI in a platform with many regulatory issues (access/privacy and retention policy)?

There is a growing need to address increasing regulatory requirements and security risks.

ServiceNow, with its Now LLM, has built-in features that keep both existing and upcoming regulations concerning GenAI in mind.  

For example, any GenAI generated response is clearly indicated by the star symbol. The platform offers robust data governance tools that help manage user permissions, data encryption, and audit trails. This ensures that sensitive information is handled according to legal standards, reducing the risk of non-compliance.  

Furthermore, GenAI can be customized either by using your own LLM and security/governance setup, or by customizing the prompts used with the Skill builder. 

Can GenAI be used in on-premise ServiceNow deployments?

No, GenAI is not available for on-premise use right now.  

If you’re using an on-premise setup, you’ll need to build your own solution because features like ServiceNow’s “Now Assist” aren’t yet compatible with on-prem environments. 

Can you leverage most of the functionalities of ServiceNow GenAI with external developers?

ServiceNow is the ideal platform for collaborating with developers. It offers delegated development within secure scopes that prevent impact on other areas of the platform. Its identity and access management tools provide secure access for external developers. 

Additionally, we can assist with governance, team structures and maximize efficiency when developing GenAI applications. 

Do you need traditional AI to support GenAI?

No, you can use both separately. However, based on our experience we learned that using both strengthens each other. 
 
Need help figuring out which one is better for your task? Reach out to our experts and we will help you determine whether your use case requires smart workflows, smart automation, traditional AI, analytics AI, or GenAI.

How does ServiceNow GenAI assist with ticket routing, especially with different service desks?

ServiceNow offers AI functionalities like ticket routing through predictive intelligence, which is powered by machine learning, not GenAI. On top of this, GenAI features, such as summarization, can simplify tasks for agents. 

From the Washington and Xanadu releases onward, ServiceNow has enhanced predictive intelligence models. Users no longer need to create or train word clouds, as ServiceNow enhances their predictive intelligence models. 

How does GenAI help in auto-creating Knowledge Base (KB) articles based on existing usage and support manuals?

ServiceNow GenAI can automatically create Knowledge Base (KB) articles by extracting information from support tickets, documentation, and user manuals. This helps keep the Knowledge Base current and comprehensive, making it easier for users to find solutions to their problems without needing to contact support. 

Currently, the NowAssist feature allows KB article generation based on incidents or cases. To use other sources like existing documentation or user manuals, you can customize this by using the Skill Kit or Skill Builder tools.

Having a high-quality Knowledge Base is essential because the better the quality of the information, the more accurate the answers you’ll get when using GenAI. 

Additionally, using traditional AI tools like predictive intelligence can help find similar incidents and articles, identify knowledge gaps, and prepare your Knowledge Base to get ready for GenAI.

What role does ServiceNow GenAI play in knowledge finding and supporting self-help or shift-left strategies?

GenAI improves how we find knowledge by using AI search that understands queries in natural language. It helps users find the right articles and provides summaries of those articles. 

The main goal of a high-quality knowledge base is to reduce the number of L2 and L3 support tickets and make it easier for users to find answers on their own. 

By shifting tasks from expensive support levels (L3, L2, L1) to the end user, we focus on the user experience. GenAI helps because users don’t want to read long, detailed articles; they just want quick answers. 

AI search locates the specific article they need, and NowAssist provides a summary for the user. This “shift left” strategy improves efficiency without compromising the user experience.

How does ServiceNow GenAI support performance analytics?

You have a few options for using performance analytics, and now you can interact with it using natural language. 

1. One of the features is called “text to analytics,” which lets you ask for a report or widget to be created, and this feature is constantly improving. 
2. There is also a summary feature of the most important insights displayed on the dashboard.  
3. Additionally, you can easily turn the dashboard into a PowerPoint presentation. 

These are the three main features of performance analytics, combined with the power of GenAI.

How does AI/GenAI assist with translating foreign languages and responding back to the customer in their language?

Currently, NowAssist only supports the English language. You can use Dynamic Translations to translate input from other languages, but this only works for translating the questions. For example, you can ask a question in Dutch, get the response in English, and then use Dynamic Translations to translate the answer back to Dutch. 

However, ServiceNow is working on adding support for more languages in the future

How can AI assist in identifying and preventing ticket floods?

Predictive intelligence helps group similar incidents together. This means that agents only need to focus on one incident, and they can automatically update and resolve other similar incidents. It also provides suggested solutions based on previous incidents, which is all part of predictive intelligence and analytical AI. 

With GenAI, when you work on an incident, it generates helpful content related to that incident. After resolving the incident, it can create a resolution note and knowledge articles, which helps you solve future incidents more efficiently and quickly. 

As more incidents come in, the “shift left” approach will allow employees and end users to resolve their issues on their own. This means that the remaining incidents can be addressed more effectively. 

What's the future roadmap for Gen AI within ServiceNow? 

In the future, Gen AI will continue to shape ServiceNow’s landscape. Upcoming resources like AI capability maps and informative content will help users navigate the evolving AI ecosystem. Embracing existing AI capabilities while exploring Gen AI’s potential will empower organizations to optimize workflows and unlock new efficiencies.  

ServiceNow Gen AI presents an exciting chapter in the platform’s evolution. It’s a testament to continuous innovation and empowering users with intelligent solutions. With a strategic approach and a clear understanding of AI capabilities, ServiceNow users can harness Gen AI’s potential to transform their business operations and make work flow.