In this episode, Product Manager Sibo Ding tells us how natural language understanding (NLU) capability improves performance and user experience for Virtual Agent, AI Search, and other ServiceNow user interface features. This episode covers:
What is NLU?
How does ServiceNow use NLU?
How does ServiceNow NLU work?
How does a company add NLU to its ServiceNow products?
What’s in store for ServiceNow NLU in the future?

For more information, see:
Product documentation: Natural Language Understanding
ServiceNow Community: Virtual Agent & NLU

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In this episode, Product Manager <a href="https://www.servicenow.com/community/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/301755">Sibo Ding</a> tells us how natural language understanding (NLU) capability improves performance and user experience for Virtual Agent, AI Search, and other ServiceNow user interface features. This episode covers:
<ul>
<li>What is NLU?</li>
<li>How does ServiceNow use NLU?</li>
<li>How does ServiceNow NLU work?</li>
<li>How does a company add NLU to its ServiceNow products?</li>
<li>What’s in store for ServiceNow NLU in the future?</li>
</ul>
For more information, see:
<ul>
<li>Product documentation: <a href="https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/utah-intelligent-experiences/page/administer/natural-language-understanding/concept/natural-language-understanding.html">Natural Language Understanding</a></li>
<li>ServiceNow Community: <a href="https://www.servicenow.com/community/virtual-agent-nlu/ct-p/virtual-agent-natural-language">Virtual Agent &amp; NLU</a></li>
</ul>
Your feedback helps us serve you better – please leave us a comment.
Subscribe today!
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ServiceNow Insights is your insider’s guide to the world of ServiceNow. Join us as we unpack the latest products, innovations, and updates with in-depth discussions led by the creators behind the platform. Hear firsthand about the challenges they've overcome, the solutions they've pioneered, and the exciting future they envision. Whether you're a seasoned admin, agent, platform owner, or just discovering the power of ServiceNow,  and offers valuable insights to help you stay informed and leverage the full potential of the platform.

ServiceNow Insights&nbsp;is your insider&rsquo;s guide to the world of ServiceNow. Join us as we unpack the latest products, innovations, and updates with in-depth discussions led by the creators behind the platform. Hear firsthand about the challenges they've overcome, the solutions they've pioneered, and the exciting future they envision. Whether you're a seasoned admin, agent, platform owner, or just discovering the power of ServiceNow,&nbsp;&nbsp;and offers valuable insights to help you stay informed and leverage the full potential of the platform.

ServiceNow TechBytes is a Podcast Program hosted …

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ServiceNow Podcast Program is a collection of podcast shows hosted by various ServiceNow experts and professionals covering different focus areas and a broad variety of topics. Come listen to our experts talk about what's going on at ServiceNow. Join the conversation!

Visit the Now Community forums

ServiceNow Podcast Program is a collection of podcast shows hosted by various ServiceNow experts and professionals covering different focus areas and a broad variety of topics. Come listen to our experts talk about what's going on at ServiceNow. Join the conversation!
<a href="https://community.servicenow.com/community">Visit the Now Community forums</a>

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Episode 66: Natural language understanding

Day One Ready: What New Engineers Actually Need to Know About AI | Engineering Now Unlocked 

Starting your first engineering role — or coming back for a return offer — and wondering what AI actually changes about the job? This episode gives you the real answer, from two engineers living it every day.

Jordan Shelton and Cynthia Mathenge sit down with Ian Thurlow (Senior Manager, Data Platform Software Engineering) and Andrew Yan (Software Engineer, Data Foundations) to talk about what day one looks like now, what AI tools actually do for early-career engineers, and what fundamentals still separate good engineers from great ones. If you’re about to start an internship, just got your return offer, or you’re a manager thinking about how to set new engineers up for success — this is the conversation you need before day one.

What you’ll learn
✔ What AI actually changes about day-to-day engineering work (and what it doesn’t) 
✔ Why the fundamentals matter more than ever — not less 
✔ How to build a network at a company like ServiceNow, even if you start remotely 
✔ How to use AI as a sounding board, not a crutch 

Chapters 
00:00 Introduction — Engineering Now Unlocked 
02:08 Meet Ian Thurlow and Andrew Yan 
03:03 How AI is changing day-to-day engineering work 
04:47 AI as an accelerator, not a replacement 
09:04 AI as a sounding board 
12:38 Leadership mindset in an AI-first team 
13:46 Raising the bar for early-in-career talent 1
5:41 What your first 30 days should look like 
17:43 This or That 
19:16 Code reviews: the fastest way to learn that nobody talks about 
20:57 Building your network — even fully remote 
24:24 Ian and Andrew’s Work Advice 
27:43 Outro 

Guests 
Ian Thurlow Senior Manager, Data Platform Software Engineering — ServiceNow 
Andrew Yan Software Engineer, Data Foundations — ServiceNow 

Hosts 
Jorden Shelton Technical Program Manager, AI Engineering & Delivery — ServiceNow 
Cynthia Mathenge Business Operations Manager, AI Engineering & Delivery — ServiceNow 
Bobby Brill ServiceNow Insights 

Links & Resources Learn more about ServiceNow Engineering → https://www.servicenow.com/company/careers/engineering.html

ServiceNow Docs → https://docs.servicenow.com

New to the channel? Subscribe so you never miss an episode of ServiceNow Insights.

Day One Ready: What New Engineers Actually Need to Know About AI | Engineering Now Unlocked 
Starting your first engineering role &mdash; or coming back for a return offer &mdash; and wondering what AI actually changes about the job?&nbsp;This episode gives you the real answer, from two engineers living it every day.
Jordan Shelton and Cynthia Mathenge sit down with Ian Thurlow (Senior Manager, Data Platform Software Engineering) and Andrew Yan (Software Engineer, Data Foundations) to talk about what day one looks like now, what AI tools actually do for early-career engineers, and what fundamentals still separate good engineers from great ones. If you&rsquo;re about to start an internship, just got your return offer, or you&rsquo;re a manager thinking about how to set new engineers up for success &mdash; this is the conversation you need before day one.
What you&rsquo;ll learn ✔ What AI actually changes about day-to-day engineering work (and what it doesn&rsquo;t) ✔ Why the fundamentals matter more than ever &mdash; not less ✔ How to build a network at a company like ServiceNow, even if you start remotely ✔ How to use AI as a sounding board, not a crutch Chapters 00:00 Introduction &mdash; Engineering Now Unlocked 02:08 Meet Ian Thurlow and Andrew Yan 03:03 How AI is changing day-to-day engineering work 04:47 AI as an accelerator, not a replacement 09:04 AI as a sounding board&nbsp; 12:38 Leadership mindset in an AI-first team 13:46 Raising the bar for early-in-career talent 1 5:41 What your first 30 days should look like 17:43 This or That 19:16 Code reviews: the fastest way to learn that nobody talks about 20:57 Building your network &mdash; even fully remote 24:24 Ian and Andrew&rsquo;s Work Advice 27:43 Outro Guests Ian Thurlow Senior Manager, Data Platform Software Engineering &mdash; ServiceNow Andrew Yan Software Engineer, Data Foundations &mdash; ServiceNow Hosts Jorden Shelton Technical Program Manager, AI Engineering &amp; Delivery &mdash; ServiceNow Cynthia Mathenge Business Operations Manager, AI Engineering &amp; Delivery &mdash; ServiceNow Bobby Brill ServiceNow Insights Links &amp; Resources Learn more about ServiceNow Engineering &rarr; <a href="https://www.servicenow.com/company/careers/engineering.html">https://www.servicenow.com/company/careers/engineering.html</a> ServiceNow Docs &rarr; <a href="https://docs.servicenow.com">https://docs.servicenow.com</a> New to the channel? Subscribe so you never miss an episode of ServiceNow Insights.

Day One Ready: What New Engineers Need to Know About AI — Engineering Now Unlocked 

Voice AI agent evaluation — why it's fundamentally harder than text, how cascade failures derail conversations invisibly, and ServiceNow's open-source framework to establish industry evaluation standards. Featuring real audio examples showing authentication failures, leaked reasoning, and latency problems.

WHAT WE COVER 

TARA BOGAVELLI — Research Engineer, ServiceNow 
Leading the open-source voice agent evaluation framework. Explains why existing benchmarks don't measure what matters and what ServiceNow is releasing to establish industry standards.

KATRINA STANKIEWICZ — Staff Machine Learning Engineer, ServiceNow 
Cascade model architecture expert. Breaks down STT → LLM → TTS failure modes, named entity transcription challenges, and real audio example analysis.

GABRIELLE GAUTHIER MELANÇON — Staff Applied Research Scientist, ServiceNow 
Multi-language evaluation specialist. Reveals why Large Audio Language Models lag behind, the native speaker requirement, and bot-to-bot simulation methodology. 

CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction — The evaluation gap 
1:11 ServiceNow's Open-Source Framework Announcement — Tara Bogavelli 
2:43 Meet the Researchers 
3:43 Voice-Specific Challenges — Tara Bogavelli 
5:03 Cascade Architecture: STT → LLM → TTS — Katrina Stankiewicz 
7:57 The Named Entity Problem — Katrina Stankiewicz 
10:06 Evaluation Metrics: Accuracy vs Experience — Gabrielle Gauthier Melançon 
11:23 Bot-to-Bot Testing at Scale — Gabrielle Gauthier Melançon 
14:30 The LALM Gap: Why Audio AI Judges Struggle — Tara Bogavelli
16:57 Real Audio Example: Flight Rebooking Gone Wrong 
21:58 Breaking Down the Failures — Katrina Stankiewicz 28:30 Wrap-Up & Resources

KEY INSIGHTS

The Cascade Failure Problem: STT → LLM → TTS errors propagate invisibly Named Entity Transcription: The #1 enterprise blocker—names, confirmation codes, emails break authentication Accuracy vs Experience: Perfect task completion means nothing if users hang up due to poor experience LALM Gap: Large Audio Language Models lag behind text LLMs—human evaluators remain essential Latency Kills Conversations: Five-second pauses make users think the call dropped, breaking the experience even when tasks complete Open-Source Framework: ServiceNow releasing evaluation tools, metrics, and bot-to-bot simulation methodology for the industry.

LEARN MORE

Website: https://servicenow.github.io/eva/ GitHub: 
https://github.com/servicenow/eva Blog Post: 
https://huggingface.co/blog/ServiceNow-AI/eva Dataset: https://huggingface.co/datasets/ServiceNow-AI/eva

ABOUT

Hosted by Bobby Brill. ServiceNow Insights podcast explores AI research, real-world applications, and the people building the future of work. #VoiceAI #AIEvaluation #ServiceNow #MachineLearning #OpenSource #ConversationalAI #STT #TTS #LLM #VoiceAgents #AIResearch #Podcast

Voice AI agent evaluation &mdash; why it's fundamentally harder than text, how cascade failures derail conversations invisibly, and ServiceNow's open-source framework to establish industry evaluation standards. Featuring real audio examples showing authentication failures, leaked reasoning, and latency problems.
WHAT WE COVER&nbsp;
TARA BOGAVELLI &mdash; Research Engineer, ServiceNow Leading the open-source voice agent evaluation framework. Explains why existing benchmarks don't measure what matters and what ServiceNow is releasing to establish industry standards.
KATRINA STANKIEWICZ &mdash; Staff Machine Learning Engineer, ServiceNow Cascade model architecture expert. Breaks down STT &rarr; LLM &rarr; TTS failure modes, named entity transcription challenges, and real audio example analysis.
GABRIELLE GAUTHIER MELAN&Ccedil;ON &mdash; Staff Applied Research Scientist, ServiceNow Multi-language evaluation specialist. Reveals why Large Audio Language Models lag behind, the native speaker requirement, and bot-to-bot simulation methodology.&nbsp;
CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction &mdash; The evaluation gap 1:11 ServiceNow's Open-Source Framework Announcement &mdash; Tara Bogavelli 2:43 Meet the Researchers 3:43 Voice-Specific Challenges &mdash; Tara Bogavelli 5:03 Cascade Architecture: STT &rarr; LLM &rarr; TTS &mdash; Katrina Stankiewicz 7:57 The Named Entity Problem &mdash; Katrina Stankiewicz 10:06 Evaluation Metrics: Accuracy vs Experience &mdash; Gabrielle Gauthier Melan&ccedil;on 11:23 Bot-to-Bot Testing at Scale &mdash; Gabrielle Gauthier Melan&ccedil;on&nbsp; 14:30 The LALM Gap: Why Audio AI Judges Struggle &mdash; Tara Bogavelli 16:57 Real Audio Example: Flight Rebooking Gone Wrong 21:58 Breaking Down the Failures &mdash; Katrina Stankiewicz 28:30 Wrap-Up &amp; Resources
KEY INSIGHTS
The Cascade Failure Problem: STT &rarr; LLM &rarr; TTS errors propagate invisibly Named Entity Transcription: The #1 enterprise blocker&mdash;names, confirmation codes, emails break authentication Accuracy vs Experience: Perfect task completion means nothing if users hang up due to poor experience LALM Gap: Large Audio Language Models lag behind text LLMs&mdash;human evaluators remain essential Latency Kills Conversations: Five-second pauses make users think the call dropped, breaking the experience even when tasks complete Open-Source Framework: ServiceNow releasing evaluation tools, metrics, and bot-to-bot simulation methodology for the industry.
LEARN MORE
Website: https://servicenow.github.io/eva/ GitHub: https://github.com/servicenow/eva Blog Post: https://huggingface.co/blog/ServiceNow-AI/eva Dataset: https://huggingface.co/datasets/ServiceNow-AI/eva
ABOUT
Hosted by Bobby Brill. ServiceNow Insights podcast explores AI research, real-world applications, and the people building the future of work. #VoiceAI #AIEvaluation #ServiceNow #MachineLearning #OpenSource #ConversationalAI #STT #TTS #LLM #VoiceAgents #AIResearch #Podcast

EVA - A Framework for Evaluating Voice Agents by ServiceNow

AI governance at scale — what it means, how to do it, and what regulations you need to know now. Host Bobby Brill brings together five ServiceNow experts across two conversations for a complete 20-minute briefing on governing AI in the enterprise.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
WHAT WE COVER
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

RAVI KRISHNAMURTHY — VP, AI Platform, ServiceNow
Why hidden AI is one of the biggest unmanaged risks in the enterprise — and why governance is an accelerator, not a brake.

PETER WEIGT — Responsible AI, ServiceNow
The innovation paradox: how AI Control Tower makes governance a team sport and breaks down the silos that slow AI deployment down.

SAMPADA CHAVAN — AI Control Tower, ServiceNow
How AI Control Tower was built, what the discovery problem really looks like, and why compliance must be baked into the AI lifecycle — not bolted on at the end.

ANDREA LAFOUNTAIN — AI Legal, ServiceNow
The three regulatory frameworks every enterprise needs to know: EU AI Act, Colorado AI Act, and NIST. Plus: the compliance strategy that scales across all of them.

NAVDEEP GILL — Responsible AI, ServiceNow
The math on enterprise AI compliance — why it's exponential — and how AI Control Tower's automated discovery keeps you ahead of it.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CHAPTERS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

0:00 Introduction
1:23 The Hidden AI Problem — Ravi Krishnamurthy & Sampada Chavan
5:33 AI Control Tower in Practice — Peter Weigt & Sampada Chavan
7:37 The Regulatory Landscape — Andrea LaFountain & Navdeep Gill
14:38 Compliance in Action & Key Deadlines
17:05 Wrap-Up

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
KEY DATES TO KNOW
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

EU AI Act enforcement: August 2026
Colorado AI Act enforcement: June 2026
NIST AI RMF: Voluntary framework, increasingly referenced by regulators

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
LEARN MORE
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ServiceNow AI Control Tower: https://www.servicenow.com
NIST AI Risk Management Framework: https://www.nist.gov/artificial-intelligence

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Hosted by Bobby Brill. A ServiceNow podcast exploring the people, technology, and ideas shaping the future of work.

#AIGovernance #ServiceNow #AIControlTower #ResponsibleAI #EUAIAct #EnterpriseAI #AICompliance #FutureOfWork #NowAssist #Podcast

AI governance at scale &mdash; what it means, how to do it, and what regulations you need to know now. Host Bobby Brill brings together five ServiceNow experts across two conversations for a complete 20-minute briefing on governing AI in the enterprise. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ WHAT WE COVER ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ RAVI KRISHNAMURTHY &mdash; VP, AI Platform, ServiceNow Why hidden AI is one of the biggest unmanaged risks in the enterprise &mdash; and why governance is an accelerator, not a brake. PETER WEIGT &mdash; Responsible AI, ServiceNow The innovation paradox: how AI Control Tower makes governance a team sport and breaks down the silos that slow AI deployment down. SAMPADA CHAVAN &mdash; AI Control Tower, ServiceNow How AI Control Tower was built, what the discovery problem really looks like, and why compliance must be baked into the AI lifecycle &mdash; not bolted on at the end. ANDREA LAFOUNTAIN &mdash; AI Legal, ServiceNow The three regulatory frameworks every enterprise needs to know: EU AI Act, Colorado AI Act, and NIST. Plus: the compliance strategy that scales across all of them. NAVDEEP GILL &mdash; Responsible AI, ServiceNow The math on enterprise AI compliance &mdash; why it's exponential &mdash; and how AI Control Tower's automated discovery keeps you ahead of it. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 0:00 Introduction 1:23 The Hidden AI Problem &mdash; Ravi Krishnamurthy &amp; Sampada Chavan 5:33 AI Control Tower in Practice &mdash; Peter Weigt &amp; Sampada Chavan 7:37 The Regulatory Landscape &mdash; Andrea LaFountain &amp; Navdeep Gill 14:38 Compliance in Action &amp; Key Deadlines 17:05 Wrap-Up ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ KEY DATES TO KNOW ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ EU AI Act enforcement: August 2026 Colorado AI Act enforcement: June 2026 NIST AI RMF: Voluntary framework, increasingly referenced by regulators ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ LEARN MORE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ServiceNow AI Control Tower: https://www.servicenow.com NIST AI Risk Management Framework: https://www.nist.gov/artificial-intelligence ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THIS PODCAST ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Hosted by Bobby Brill. A ServiceNow podcast exploring the people, technology, and ideas shaping the future of work. #AIGovernance #ServiceNow #AIControlTower #ResponsibleAI #EUAIAct #EnterpriseAI #AICompliance #FutureOfWork #NowAssist #Podcast

Episode 66: Natural language understanding

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