ServiceNow is expanding its enterprise artificial intelligence capabilities with the introduction of AI Passport, a new security and governance solution designed to help businesses control how autonomous AI agents operate across their systems.
Announced on October 15, 2026, the technology forms part of ServiceNow’s broader effort to make enterprise AI more secure, accountable and easier to manage. The company also revealed additional capabilities for its Super Intelligence Control Tower, including AI monitoring, risk management and cost governance.
Businesses are increasingly allowing AI agents to perform tasks that previously required human involvement. These systems can access company information, communicate with applications and complete workflows independently. That creates new security challenges, particularly when organisations deploy hundreds or thousands of agents.
ServiceNow wants to address those concerns by giving businesses greater visibility into their AI environments while introducing stronger controls over what individual agents can do.
ServiceNow AI Passport Introduces Stronger Controls for Autonomous AI Agents
AI agents are becoming more capable, but their growing independence raises questions about security and accountability. An agent may need access to customer records, internal applications or financial systems to complete an assigned task. Without appropriate restrictions, that access could expose organisations to unnecessary risks.
ServiceNow’s AI Passport introduces cryptographically signed credentials that help verify the identity and permissions of AI agents and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. These credentials establish what an agent can access and which actions it has permission to perform.
The technology also supports security checks while agents execute tasks. If an agent attempts to operate beyond its authorised boundaries, organisations can restrict its activities, redirect its behaviour, revoke access or terminate its operation.
This approach moves AI governance closer to the point where decisions and actions actually happen. Instead of relying entirely on policies established before deployment, businesses can apply controls during AI operations.
AI Passport also supports third-party AI agents, an important consideration for enterprises using multiple AI providers and software platforms.
ServiceNow and NVIDIA Collaborate on AI Security Infrastructure
ServiceNow is working with NVIDIA to strengthen the technical infrastructure supporting AI Passport. NVIDIA serves as a design and launch partner, bringing its security technologies into the development of enforcement mechanisms for autonomous AI systems.
The collaboration involves the NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform, including NVIDIA OpenShell secure runtime software and NVIDIA Sentry security capabilities.
These technologies are intended to help organisations enforce security policies while AI agents operate across enterprise environments. That becomes particularly important when agents interact with several applications or access information from different systems.
Traditional application-level security controls may not fully address the risks associated with autonomous agents moving between platforms. ServiceNow and NVIDIA are exploring how infrastructure-level enforcement can provide additional protection.
For enterprises, the partnership could make it easier to introduce autonomous AI into sensitive business processes without giving agents unrestricted access to company systems.
Super Intelligence Control Tower Expands Enterprise AI Monitoring
ServiceNow is also strengthening its Super Intelligence Control Tower, a platform designed to provide centralised oversight of AI systems operating across an organisation.
One of the biggest challenges facing enterprise IT teams is the growing use of shadow AI. Employees and departments may introduce AI tools without formal approval, leaving security teams unaware of which systems are accessing company information.
ServiceNow plans to address this issue through expanded AI discovery capabilities, continuous monitoring and more than 400 prebuilt connectors that support visibility across different AI platforms and vendors.
The company is also improving how organisations monitor agent behaviour and connect AI activity with existing identity and security permissions.
Its unified data model brings together information from asset management, security operations and AI observability. This allows organisations to examine AI-related risks within a broader operational context rather than treating each AI deployment as an isolated system.
For companies managing large AI environments, centralised visibility could reduce the time required to identify unauthorised agents, investigate unusual behaviour and respond to potential security incidents.
AI Cost Management Helps Businesses Monitor AI Spending
The rapid adoption of enterprise AI has introduced another challenge: understanding how much these systems actually cost.
Companies often use several AI models, cloud providers and software platforms simultaneously. Expenses can accumulate across departments, making it difficult to identify which AI applications deliver value and which consume resources without producing meaningful results.
ServiceNow is developing AI Cost Management capabilities to give organisations a consolidated view of spending associated with AI models, cloud infrastructure, embedded AI services and data centre GPUs.
The solution aims to connect AI consumption with business outcomes, helping organisations understand whether particular workloads justify their operating costs.
ServiceNow also plans to introduce policy controls that can alert administrators when spending exceeds established limits. Depending on the situation, organisations may be able to restrict or block certain activities.
The objective is to give IT and finance teams more control over AI budgets without requiring them to examine disconnected billing systems.
For businesses expanding their AI deployments, cost governance could become an essential part of long-term planning.
Financial Institutions Face Growing Challenges With AI Governance
Financial institutions face greater risks when deploying autonomous AI because their operations involve sensitive customer information, financial transactions and strict regulatory requirements.
ServiceNow’s 2026 Banking AI Maturity Index highlights the gap between AI adoption and governance. According to the company’s findings, 100% of surveyed banks reported using AI, but only 24% had governance capabilities that matched their level of adoption.
That difference raises concerns about how financial institutions manage unauthorised AI agents, unregistered devices and service accounts operating across their infrastructure.
ServiceNow is responding with its Operational Resilience solution, which combines AI governance, risk management and security monitoring in a single environment.
The solution helps financial institutions identify unmanaged assets, investigate potential threats and restrict unauthorised activity. It also provides audit records that can support compliance reporting and regulatory investigations.
By connecting information across IT infrastructure, cloud environments and third-party systems, ServiceNow aims to give security and risk teams a clearer picture of their exposure.
LTM Deploys 1,500 AI Agents With Centralised Governance
LTM Limited is already demonstrating how enterprises can introduce more structured oversight as their AI deployments expand.
The company has deployed 1,500 AI agents across its organisation, assigning each agent an employee ID and a manager to establish accountability.
LTM uses ServiceNow’s control tower to maintain a centralised record of its AI agents. This gives the company greater visibility into agent inventory, compliance requirements and potential operational risks.
Managing AI agents at this scale presents challenges that go beyond conventional software administration. Organisations need to know which agents are active, who supervises them and whether they operate within approved boundaries.
LTM expects stronger governance and streamlined AI asset management to improve operational efficiency. However, the company has not disclosed specific performance improvements resulting from the deployment.
The example illustrates how businesses are beginning to treat autonomous AI agents as operational resources that require formal supervision.
ServiceNow AI Passport Expected to Launch in Q4 2026
ServiceNow expects AI Passport, shadow AI detection and AI Cost Management to become available during the fourth quarter of 2026.
The company’s Operational Resilience solution for financial services is already available, providing organisations with tools to strengthen oversight of technology assets and AI-related risks.
ServiceNow also plans to showcase its AI Passport integration with NVIDIA’s Open Agent Safety Platform during NVIDIA GTC Berlin.
Although the announced capabilities promise stronger security and operational control, businesses will still need to evaluate their effectiveness in production environments.
Integration with existing enterprise applications, compatibility with third-party AI agents and the reliability of runtime enforcement will be important considerations as organisations assess the technology.
Enterprise AI Governance Becomes Essential as Autonomous Agents Expand
ServiceNow’s latest announcement reflects a growing concern across the enterprise AI market. Businesses are no longer focused exclusively on what artificial intelligence can accomplish. They also need to understand how to supervise it.
Autonomous AI agents can improve productivity by handling repetitive processes, coordinating information and executing complex workflows. Yet those capabilities introduce risks when agents receive access to sensitive systems without sufficient restrictions.
AI Passport attempts to address that challenge by establishing verifiable permissions and enforcing security policies while agents operate.
The expanded Super Intelligence Control Tower adds another layer of oversight by connecting AI discovery, monitoring, security and spending information.
For ServiceNow, the opportunity extends beyond providing AI-powered automation. The company is positioning itself as a platform for managing the infrastructure, permissions and operational risks associated with enterprise AI.
Whether AI Passport becomes widely adopted will depend on its ability to work reliably across different platforms and enterprise environments.
One thing is becoming increasingly clear: as autonomous AI agents take on more responsibility, businesses will need stronger systems to determine what those agents can do, what they should never access and when human intervention becomes necessary.
Sources
- ServiceNow Newsroom — October 15, 2026: ServiceNow Advances Its Operational Harness for Enterprise AI With AI Passport and Expanded Governance Capabilities
- Nasdaq — October 15, 2026: ServiceNow Advances Its Operational Harness for Enterprise AI
- Express Computer — October 16, 2026: ServiceNow Introduces AI Passport to Strengthen Enterprise AI Governance
