ServiceNow makes Anthropic Claude the default model for its AI agent builder

ServiceNow is doubling down on model choice while standardizing its defaults: the company signed a multi-year agreement with Anthropic to embed Claude more deeply across its enterprise workflow stack and to deploy Claude internally for staff.

Claude becomes the default across ServiceNow workflow automation

Under the deal, Anthropic’s Claude family becomes the preferred set of models across ServiceNow’s AI workflow products, with Claude set as the default engine for ServiceNow Build Agent, the company’s agent builder used to create “agentic” workflows (software agents that can take multi-step actions across tools, not just generate text).

For B2B marketers and e-commerce operators building on ServiceNow, this matters because agent builders sit upstream of automation: whichever model is the default tends to shape reliability, cost, latency, and governance patterns across customer service, IT, and back-office workflows.

ServiceNow did not disclose the partnership’s length or financial terms.

Multi-model strategy expands after OpenAI partnership

The Anthropic announcement lands one week after ServiceNow unveiled a separate partnership with OpenAI, aimed at providing customers access to OpenAI models through ServiceNow products, according to ServiceNow’s newsroom release: https://newsroom.servicenow.com/press-releases/details/2026/ServiceNow-and-OpenAI-collaborate-to-deepen-and-accelerate-enterprise-AI-outcomes/default.aspx. TechCrunch also reported the OpenAI push as part of a broader enterprise expansion: https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/22/openai-is-coming-for-those-sweet-enterprise-dollars-in-2026/.

ServiceNow leadership framed the approach as intentionally multi-model, positioning the platform as an orchestrator where enterprises can pick “the right model for the right job” while keeping security, governance, and auditability consistent.

On the internal adoption side, ServiceNow is rolling Claude out to its 29,000 employees and making Claude Code available to engineers.

Anthropic’s growing list of enterprise wins provides context for the deal’s timing, including reported partnerships with Allianz (https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/09/anthropic-adds-allianz-to-growing-list-of-enterprise-wins/) and Snowflake (https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/04/anthropic-signs-200m-deal-to-bring-its-llms-to-snowflakes-customers/). The subtext for buyers: vendors are betting that measurable ROI from enterprise LLM deployments will improve in 2026, a claim some VCs have repeated for several years (https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/29/vcs-predict-strong-enterprise-ai-adoption-next-year-again/).