OpenAI and ServiceNow expand partnership to embed AI agents in workflows

Deepening the strategic alliance

OpenAI and ServiceNow have announced an expansion of their multi-year strategic partnership to integrate AI agents more deeply into enterprise software. This move builds on a January agreement where ServiceNow chose OpenAI models as the primary intelligence layer for its clients. The goal is to move beyond simple chat and toward functional execution within existing business systems.

The new arrangement allows corporate users to carry out specific ServiceNow tasks from within the ChatGPT and Codex interfaces. By feeding business context and workflow actions into ChatGPT, teams can investigate problems and take action without switching between different applications. This creates a more seamless experience for employees who currently have to jump between tools to complete a single task.

OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman stated that AI is more useful when people can put it to work in the systems their businesses depend on. The companies are aiming to combine OpenAI's reasoning capabilities with the structured workflows and data that ServiceNow provides to large organizations.

How the integration works

The technical backbone of this integration relies on ServiceNow's Action Fabric to manage permissions and business rules. When a customer connects ChatGPT to their ServiceNow instance, they choose which specific functions to expose to the AI. The Action Fabric ensures that the actions available to an employee in the chat window mirror the exact permissions they have in the company's official software.

For example, an IT staffer could use ChatGPT to locate similar incidents or gauge the risk of a proposed change. They could then amend a ServiceNow record within that same conversation rather than navigating to a separate dashboard. This allows the AI to act as an agent that can perform specific tasks autonomously.

Three core product areas

The expansion focuses on three specific areas: application development, cybersecurity, and voice interactions. For developers, a new Codex integration with ServiceNow's AI Workflow Factory will allow for building applications using platform tools. OpenAI models will also power the Build Agent and Autonomous Engineer tools for modernizing existing software.

In the realm of cybersecurity, the companies are launching a joint offering that pairs OpenAI's security capabilities with ServiceNow's identity and asset data. This setup helps security teams investigate vulnerabilities, rank the risks associated with them, and coordinate the necessary fixes. It leverages the scale of ServiceNow's data to make OpenAI's security tools more effective for large companies.

Finally, the partnership includes a voice-powered feature within the Super Intelligence Control Tower. This tool will allow users to describe an AI use case out loud, which then fills in assessment fields and asks follow-up questions to gather missing details. This aims to make it easier for non-technical users to define how they want to use AI in their specific departments.

Internal and external impact

ServiceNow plans to extend the use of ChatGPT Work and Codex to its entire workforce, moving beyond just its engineering teams. While technical staff will use Codex to explore codebases and run tests, other departments will use ChatGPT Work for daily tasks. This internal rollout is part of a broader strategy to use OpenAI technology in ServiceNow's own security operations.

On the other side of the partnership, OpenAI is already running ServiceNow workflows within its own business operations. This is supported by the Super Intelligence Control Tower, which ServiceNow describes as a system that orchestrates and governs AI across an enterprise. The two companies are essentially becoming deeply intertwined in how they handle corporate AI infrastructure.

For enterprise software buyers, this update signals a tighter coupling between OpenAI's models and ServiceNow's workflow engine. It also extends ServiceNow's reach into OpenAI's own chat and coding interfaces. This move places ServiceNow in direct competition with Microsoft's Copilot, as both companies are racing to provide AI assistants for corporate workflows.