ServiceNow has introduced AI Passport, a signed digital credential that spells out exactly what an AI agent is allowed to do inside a company. The ServiceNow AI Passport ties each agent to an identity, a set of approved actions, the systems it can touch, and a human owner who is accountable for it. The company also rolled out new no-code tools that let employees build their own AI assistants inside those limits.
How ServiceNow AI Passport Works
Think of it as a work badge for software. Each passport is cryptographically signed and issued through AI Control Tower, ServiceNow’s platform for overseeing AI, and its rules are checked while the agent is actually doing the work.
That runtime check is the key idea. ServiceNow argues that spotting agents and watching them is not enough unless the limits can be enforced on the spot.
A Refund Demo Shows the Idea
In a demo, ServiceNow set up a third-party customer service agent that could approve refunds under $25 and nothing else. An $18 refund went through automatically, while a $40 request was blocked at runtime because it crossed the line set for human review.
When an agent oversteps, companies can respond in stages. They can pause it by revoking session tokens, restrict it to approved tools, or shut it off by revoking its credentials, then restore it later with a recorded reason.
| Response | What happens to the agent |
|---|---|
| Monitor | Activity is tracked while it works within scope |
| Pause | Session tokens are revoked |
| Restrict | Access is limited to approved tools and endpoints |
| Deactivate | Credentials are revoked until it is restored with a logged reason |
Nenshad Bardoliwalla, ServiceNow’s senior vice president of AI products, compared the approach to “a dimmer switch” rather than a simple on-off button.
Nvidia’s Role and Open Standards
Nvidia is the design and launch partner. AI Passport links up with Nvidia’s Open Agent Safety Platform, including its OpenShell secure runtime, so company rules can be enforced inside the infrastructure where agents run.
ServiceNow says AI Passport is built on open specifications. That means other governance tools and identity providers can issue and check the same credentials, and it works with outside agents as well as ServiceNow’s own.
More ServiceNow AI Agent Controls
AI Control Tower is getting a broader set of oversight features alongside the passport:
- Shadow AI detection to find unapproved AI tools in use
- More than 400 vendor connectors for discovering and mapping AI systems
- AI Cost Management to track spending on models, cloud providers, and GPUs by user and department
- Value tracking that connects AI usage and quality to business results
- Operational Resilience, a governance and risk package for financial institutions
New No-Code Tools for Employees
The third generation of EmployeeWorks, ServiceNow’s employee portal, now lets workers build specialized assistants without writing code. Early options include a research analyst, a calendar assistant, and HR-focused helpers for talent insights and managers.
Productivity Routines run repeat tasks in the background, such as reviewing upcoming meetings and pulling together account notes before a sales rep starts the day. For developers, a new ToolSmith environment builds integrations from plain-language instructions, and ServiceNow says it was trained on more than 75,000 APIs.
When You Can Get It
AI Passport, shadow AI detection, and AI Cost Management are due later this quarter. Operational Resilience for financial services is available now, while the new EmployeeWorks assistants, routines, and ToolSmith are in controlled availability.
Pricing mixes seat licenses with bundled AI credits that ServiceNow calls assists, and customers can buy more as usage grows.
What This Means for You
If your company is rolling out AI agent tools, the big lesson is that clear, enforced limits matter as much as smart models. A spending cap or approval threshold baked into the agent’s credentials is far safer than a rule written in a policy document.
- Give every agent a named human owner who answers for what it does.
- Set dollar limits and approval points for any agent that moves money or data.
- Hunt for shadow AI, since unapproved tools are a growing blind spot, as we noted in our look at workplace AI safety.
- Track AI spending by team before costs quietly pile up.
For a wider view of how agents are changing office software, see our guide on replacing traditional integrations, or catch up with our daily AI news.
Sources
This article draws on reporting from SiliconANGLE and Constellation Research.
Conclusion
ServiceNow is betting that the next big challenge in business AI is not building agents but keeping them in their lane. AI Passport gives each agent a signed set of permissions that are checked as it works, with a graded way to pause or shut it down. Paired with Nvidia’s safety tools and open specifications, it could become a common way to govern agents from many vendors. Companies will get a real test of the idea once it ships later this quarter.
