---
title: AI agents in Virtual Agent topics
description: An AI agent custom skill performs a task that you pass to it from a Virtual Agent topic, such as consolidating the content of a knowledge base article.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/conversational-interfaces/virtual-agent/ai-agent-custom-skill.html
release: australia
product: Virtual Agent
classification: virtual-agent
topic_type: reference
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 2
keywords: [Virtual, Agent, designer, AI, agent, connector, utility]
breadcrumb: [Managing AI agents, Getting started with the Asset library in Assistant Designer, Build and deploy, Virtual Agent, Conversational Interfaces]
---

# AI agents in Virtual Agent topics

An AI agent custom skill performs a task that you pass to it from a Virtual Agent topic, such as consolidating the content of a knowledge base article.

There may be AI agents installed with the Now Assist application that are not used in use cases. To learn how to see all agents that are available to you, see [Find AI agents](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/intelligent-experiences/find-ai-agents.md).

An AI agent performs a task that you pass to it inside the AI Connector utility in Assistant Designer. For more information on the AI Connector utility, see [AI Connector utility](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/conversational-interfaces/virtual-agent/vad-ai-connector-utility.md).

For example, you can use the AI agent in the AI Connector utility to get all data on a knowledge base article. The AI agent provides the article if it is available or notifies you if it can't find it. The agent also provides data on the consolidation itself by way of its output mappings.

To see which AI agents are installed on your instance, see [Find AI agents](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/intelligent-experiences/find-ai-agents.md).

To use the AI agent, select it from the **Skill type** drop-down list in the AI Connector utility, then select the AI agent's type from the **Select AI agent** drop-down list. For example, to have the AI agent consolidate a knowledge base article, select **KB content consolidation AI agent**.

Define the task for the AI agent by placing a value in the **Task** input mapping variable. You can define a condition, or enter a script or command. For example, enter `return KB00090;` to have the AI agent retrieve that knowledge base article and consolidate its information into a reply in the Virtual Agent chat.

The AI agent's output mapping properties are automatically defined when you select the AI agent type. All output mappings are returned in the chat when the AI agent completes the task.

\[Omitted image "ai-agent-in-connector-utility.png"\] Alt text: AI Connector utility with the Skill type and Select AI agent fields.

|Variable|Description|
|--------|-----------|
|Execution plan ID|ID number of the execution plan.|
|Execution state|Current state of the execution plan.|
|Objective|Intended task for the execution plan.|
|State reason|Reason for the execution plan's current state.|
|Messages|List of messages sent through the execution plan.|
|Execution tasks|List of tasks in the execution plan.|
|Execution tools|List of tools in the execution plan.|

When the AI agent performs its job, it generates the full plan showing the input and output mappings. Each plan shows the objective, all tasks performed for the objective, and any messages sent or tools used in the plan. All plans are listed in the Execution Plan \[sn\_aia\_execution\_plan\_list\] table.

\[Omitted image "ai-agent-execution-plan.png"\] Alt text: Execution plan for consolidating KB00090.

**Parent Topic:**[Managing AI agents in Assistant Designer](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/conversational-interfaces/virtual-agent/managing-use-cases-ai-agents.md)