AI Agent Fabric & the Future of HR: Brett Tearney on Human-AI Collaboration

1. Can you explain how AI Agent Fabric works and how it differs from traditional automation or AI solutions?

AI Agent Fabric serves as the communication backbone for entire AI ecosystems – it enables seamless collaboration between AI agents, tools, and systems. Unlike traditional AI solutions that operate in silos, it supports real-time, protocol-based interactions—agent-to-agent, agent-to-tool, and system-to-system. In doing so, this allows both ServiceNow and third-party AI agents, tools, and systems to take action in real time, coordinate tasks, and easily exchange information.

2. Could you walk us through on how an employee might interact with the integrated AI experience during a “moment that matters,” such as onboarding or a leave request?

During key moments like onboarding or requesting leave, an employee’s experience should feel supportive, personalized, and intuitive. For example, imagine a new hire going through onboarding. Instead of navigating multiple systems or waiting on responses from HR, ServiceNow AI Agents can work together with cross-platform agents from various HR systems—such as UKG and others—behind the scenes to answer, “What do I need to complete today?” The system already knows their role, location, and onboarding timeline, and can guide them through required tasks, surface relevant documents, and even provide answers to questions like, “When will I receive my first paycheck?” with context-aware responses tailored to their situation.

For a leave request, an employee might simply say, “I’d like to take PTO next Friday.” ServiceNow and UKG AI agents can coordinate to submit the request, check for conflicts, confirm policy eligibility, and even suggest alternative dates if needed. This way, the entire process feels less transactional and more conversational and proactive — simplifying complex, multi-system tasks into a single, seamless experience.

3. You’ve highlighted industries like retail, healthcare, and manufacturing. How will AI Agent Fabric address the unique workforce challenges in these sectors?

With AI Agent Fabric, organizations across all industries, including retail, healthcare, and manufacturing, can unlock new levels of collaboration from frontline workers to front-office workers to truly optimize workflows and transform siloed systems into intelligent, responsive ecosystems.

In retail, AI Agent Fabric supports real-time coordination between customer service agents, inventory systems, and logistics platforms. For example, if a customer asks about a delayed order, AI agents can instantly pull data from shipping systems, inventory databases, and customer profiles to give a clear, accurate, and quick update. Or, if a store manager needs to adjust staffing based on current foot traffic within a retail space, AI agents can analyze historical data with current trends to then recommend optimal scheduling.

In healthcare, AI Agent Fabric drives context-aware automation across patient records, scheduling systems, and clinical workflows to enhance both patient care and staff efficiency. For example, a hospital can use AI agents to analyze patient data in one system and then automatically schedule appointments in another, by taking into account the level urgency and provider availability, all in one platform.

For manufacturing, AI Agent Fabric brings together equipment monitoring systems, maintenance schedules, and workforce management tools, to reduce downtime, foster safer working conditions, and create more efficient use of skilled labor. For example, if a safety incident is reported, an agent can notify HR directly and then coordinate through compliance systems and training platforms to initiate an investigation, if needed, as well as recommend corrective actions to mitigate a similar situation from occurring again.

4. Josh Bersin’s research cites productivity improvements of up to 300% with AI agents. Where do you see the biggest gains for organizations adopting this joint solution?

The biggest gains come from freeing employees across all levels to focus on strategic priorities and people-centered work. ServiceNow’s AI Agent Fabric enables these transformative experiences by seamlessly connecting enterprise systems—like we’re demonstrating with our UKG integration. For desk workers, that means faster scheduling, easier access to benefits, and less time navigating multiple systems. For managers and HR teams, it means reducing time spent on payroll, compliance, or leave approvals, so they can focus on coaching, talent development, and operational efficiency. And for the business overall, it means greater agility — with AI agents accelerating decision-making, reducing task time from days to seconds, and driving measurable improvements in employee experience, engagement, and productivity. The UKG partnership exemplifies how ServiceNow’s platform can unlock these gains across any enterprise application ecosystem.

5. How do you address skepticism from leaders or employees who may be hesitant about AI making decisions in HR and workforce management?

We are rooted in the idea that that there is no artificial intelligence without human intelligence and that human oversight is a must. Skepticism stems from a lack of trust, which is why at ServiceNow we have the Enterprise AI Governance Steering Committee to ensure ethical development and use of AI, including third-party AI. Additionally, ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower is designed for end-to-end management that provides visibility, policy control, risk scoring, monitoring, audit readiness, and human-in-the-loop oversight. We believe AI is not here to replace human judgment but rather to enhance it.

6. What does this partnership mean for the future of human-AI collaboration in the enterprise?

We believe the future of human-AI collaboration will continue to get stronger as AI works alongside people to improve productivity, unlock new business models, and create more room for employees. Machines will take over the mundane, freeing people to focus on uniquely human, innovation-driving tasks. For example, AI dramatically reduces task time from days to seconds, accelerates decision-making, and increases service capacity. It transforms how work gets done — enabling teams to serve customers faster and drive innovation at scale. The outcome isn’t less work. It’s better work.

More importantly, strategic partnerships like our collaboration with UKG enable organizations to do significantly more with less — achieving growth without proportional increases in operating expenses. AI allows individual employees to broaden their span of control and take on expanded responsibilities, fundamentally rethinking traditional resourcing ratios. In fact, at ServiceNow, we already have 400,000 agentic AI-supported workflows helping IT operations, customer support, security, and end-user software deployment, and we’re seeing results. More specifically, ServiceNow’s agentic workforce autonomously solves 85% of routine internal IT support requests, ultimately helping the department scale by more than 40%. We’re using AI to improve productivity and boost revenue, and we’re taking out operating expenses. But not at the expense of people.

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