ServiceNow Launches AI Passport to Govern AI Agents with Verifiable Identities and Runtime Controls

ServiceNow Introduces AI Passport for Runtime AI Agent Controls

ServiceNow announced AI Passport, a new authority layer within its Super Intelligence Control Tower that assigns verifiable identities to AI agents and enforces runtime controls across enterprise systems1

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. The cryptographically signed credential defines each agent's identity, permitted actions, accessible systems, and accountable owner, addressing what Nenshad Bardoliwalla, SVP of AI product management at ServiceNow, calls a critical scaling challenge: "If companies can't identify which agents are running, what they are doing, and what systems they can access, then scaling quickly becomes a risk"1

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AI Passport draws authority from ServiceNow's Configuration Management Database, governance policies, and workflow approvals to establish enforceable limits rather than advisory guidelines2

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. When AI agents stay within their passport scope, they operate freely. When they deviate, graduated responses kick in—redirecting, restricting, reconnecting with proper context, or activating a kill switch at machine speed4

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. All actions generate auditable records, transforming AI agent execution into governed, accountable work.

Graduated Controls Replace Binary Kill Switches

The AI governance approach implements what Bardoliwalla describes as "more like a dimmer switch" rather than an all-or-nothing shutdown3

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. Organizations can monitor agent behavior, pause operations by revoking session tokens, restrict access to approved tools and endpoints, or deactivate agents by revoking credentials entirely. Frank Dickson, principal analyst at Dickson Research, contrasted this with existing approaches: "Most agent governance today is a security camera. It records what happened so someone can review the tape later. AI Passport is a bouncer at every door"1

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In a demonstration, ServiceNow configured a third-party customer service agent to process refunds below $25 while disabling unrelated capabilities2

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. An $18 refund proceeded automatically, but a $40 request was rejected at runtime because it exceeded the threshold requiring human review. For third-party AI agents especially, the passport replaces the agent's own claims about its permissions, addressing what Dickson called "an Achilles' heel of agentic AI"1

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Nvidia Partnership and Open Specifications

Nvidia serves as the design and launch partner, linking AI Passport with its Open Agent Safety Platform, including the OpenShell secure runtime and Sentry security framework2

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. The integration connects enterprise policies with enforcement at the infrastructure level where AI agents operate. Itay Ozery, Nvidia's director of product marketing for cybersecurity, emphasized the challenge: "making your enterprise policy meaningful at the point of execution"2

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AI Passport uses open specifications so any governance product, identity provider, or enforcement point can issue and verify credentials for their own and third-party AI agents1

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. Credentials remain verifiable at every step in multi-agent workflows and Model Context Protocol servers. However, Dickson noted that "an open spec matters only when others adopt it," with implementation still being built1

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Expanded AI Governance Capabilities

Beyond AI Passport, ServiceNow expanded its Super Intelligence Control Tower with shadow AI detection to locate unapproved AI agents on networks, more than 400 connectors enabling AI discovery across platforms and vendors, access mapping, and continuous enterprise AI observability tracking agent traces and behavior1

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. The company introduced cost governance tracking user, department, and runtime spending, along with "value intelligence" connecting consumption, cost, quality, and realized user value to help teams optimize AI use and prove business value1

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AI Cost Management as part of ServiceNow IT Asset Management integrates with the Control Tower, consolidating spending on frontier models, AI embedded in software services, hyperscalers, and data center GPUs into a single view2

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. A new Operational Resilience solution brings AI governance, risk, and security together for financial institutions, giving CROs and CISOs real-time visibility and control with auditable proof for regulatory compliance4

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EmployeeWorks Updates Enable No-Code AI Agent Building

ServiceNow updated EmployeeWorks with employee automation tools that let workers build Productivity Assistants without coding2

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. The third generation combines reasoning, memory, and connections to business systems with administrator-defined controls over what employees can build and access. Pre-built assistants include research and calendaring functions, along with HR-focused assistants for talent insights, HR business partners, and managers2

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ToolSmith, a new agentic developer environment, enables developers to build automations for ServiceNow EmployeeWorks AI assistants by describing needs in natural language1

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. Bhavin Shah, SVP of ServiceNow's employee experience group, explained the goal: "give developers a way to build, but in a way that's governed, that allows them to stay within the guardrails and the controls"1

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. ServiceNow said ToolSmith was trained on over 75,000 APIs and optimized for reliability and token efficiency, with the ability to scan logs identifying opportunities to fix, improve, or invent workflows1

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AI Passport, shadow AI detection, and AI Cost Management are expected to be available by year end1

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