Knowledge Base readiness for AI on the ServiceNow AI Platform

---
title: Knowledge Base readiness for AI on the ServiceNow AI Platform
description: The knowledge base enables ServiceNow Otto to deliver intelligent, accurate, and context-aware responses across AI Search, Q&A Genius Results, and other AI-powered experiences.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/intelligent-experiences/sn-ai-impl-kb-readiness.html
release: brazil
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 2
keywords: [Now Assist, agentic AI, AI readiness]
breadcrumb: [Application readiness, Assessing your AI readiness, Getting started with AI, Enable AI Experiences]
---

# Knowledge Base readiness for AI on the ServiceNow AI Platform

The knowledge base enables ServiceNow Otto to deliver intelligent, accurate, and context-aware responses across AI Search, Q&A Genius Results, and other AI-powered experiences.

When users ask questions, ServiceNow Otto searches your knowledge articles to generate answers that reflect your organization's expertise and policies. This means the quality, clarity, and structure of your knowledge content directly influence the effectiveness of AI responses. Outdated, inconsistent, or poorly written articles can lead to incorrect outputs and user frustration. That's why maintaining a clean, well-organized knowledge base is critical—not just for documentation, but for enabling reliable AI performance.

The Knowledge Management Overview dashboard helps assess AI readiness. It provides key usage metrics such as article views, helpfulness ratings, and feedback trends, helping content owners identify high-performing articles and prioritize updates to low-usage or outdated content. For more information, see [Knowledge Management Overview dashboard](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/km-overview-dash.md).

## High-level checklist

-   **1. Review existing KB articles and knowledge bases**

    Get the total count of published KB articles and the number of active knowledge bases.

    Why? To scope clean-up and identify high-priority content.

    See: [Knowledge Management Overview dashboard](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/km-overview-dash.md)

-   **2. Review the structural formatting of KB articles**

    Check for consistent template use \(KCS-based, Q&A, Issue-Cause-Resolution, etc.\). Verify that the Knowledge Management Advanced plugin is active.

    If you're using custom templates, determine whether they follow a consistent format. Also ensure that key steps are clearly defined and consistently populated.

    Why? Using templates consistently improves LLM understanding and summarization.

    See:

    -   [Knowledge article templates](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/knowledge-article-templates.md)
    -   [Activate the Knowledge Management Advanced plugin](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/activate-knowledge-advanced-plugin.md)
-   **3. Ensure metadata completeness in KB articles**

    Make sure that fields such as **Meta**, **Meta Description**, **Category**, **Author**, and **Validity** are populated.

    Why? This practice enables precise AI filtering and targeting.

    See:

    -   [Create a knowledge article](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/create-knowledge-article.md)
    -   [Knowledge article guidelines for generative AI](https://www.servicenow.com/community/knowledge-management-articles/best-practices-to-use-your-knowledge-articles-with-now-assist/ta-p/2824219) \(ServiceNow Community\)
-   **4. Perform maintenance audits**

    Flag KB articles that have not been updated in a year or more, that have no metadata, are duplicates, or are about to expire.

    Why? Outdated content degrades user trust and AI performance.

    See:

    -   [Knowledge Management Overview dashboard](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/km-overview-dash.md)
    -   [Retire a knowledge article](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/c_RetiredKnowledgeArticles.md)
    -   [Identify and review duplicate Knowledge articles](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/Now-Assist-identify-and-review-duplicate-articles.md) \(requires ServiceNow Otto for Knowledge Management\)
-   **5. Review top searched queries**

    Identify search queries and articles for optimization, and limit Now Assist Q&A functionality to high-quality, optimized KB articles.

    Why? This prevents low-value content from surfacing in answers.

    See: [Knowledge Management dashboard](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/servicenow-platform/knowledge-management-dashboard.md)