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AI in service management: why the EU AI Act is a turning point
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AI in service management: why the EU AI Act is a turning point

Deniz Timartas
Deniz Timartas
Published on 22 October 2025
4 min read
People in cloud and datacenter
Deniz Timartas
Deniz Timartas
Published on 22 October 2025
4 min read

The era of responsible AI in service management

Artificial intelligence is now woven into the core of IT and service management — powering intelligent routing, predictive insights, and conversational support. But with adoption accelerating, governance must catch up.
The European Union’s AI Act — the world’s first comprehensive AI regulation — is to AI what GDPR was to data privacy. It introduces a risk-based framework to ensure that AI systems are transparent, safe, and accountable. Atlassian, for example, has already aligned with these principles, joining the EU AI Pact and publishing Responsible Technology Principles that emphasize transparency, fairness, and user control.
This marks a new era: not just using AI responsibly, but proving it.

Why the EU AI Act matters for service leaders

The AI Act classifies systems by risk — from “unacceptable” to “minimal.” For ITSM and ESM, most use cases (ticket triage, AI summaries, virtual agents) fall into limited-risk territory, requiring transparency and oversight. However, use cases intersecting with HR, finance, or access management may be deemed high risk, demanding stronger controls: audit trails, explainability, and human review.
For CIOs and ITSM leaders, this means AI cannot be treated as a black box. Every model, recommendation, and automation must be governed, explainable, and monitored.

From obligation to opportunity
The EU AI Act shouldn’t be viewed as compliance overhead — it’s a competitive advantage for service organizations that operationalize trust.
1. Risk management as an ongoing discipline Embed AI risk assessment into your service lifecycle. Just as ITSM integrates change control, leading organizations will make AI risk classification part of daily governance.
2. Compliance-first service design Build workflows that are transparent and auditable by default — with clear AI disclosures and documented decision logic. Atlassian’s own approach provides a model: clear transparency pages and visible AI indicators within products like Rovo and Atlassian Intelligence help users understand how and when AI is applied.
3. Trust through transparency Trust will define leadership. Teams that can explain their AI — what it does, what data it uses, and when humans are in the loop — will earn stakeholder confidence.

Where ITSM teams struggle most

Through implementation work with enterprise customers, three friction points consistently emerge:
  • Shadow AI: AI already exists in many workflows, often undocumented.
  • Retrofit governance: Controls are added after deployment, creating risk and rework.
  • Explainability gap: Users and executives alike struggle to answer, “Why did the AI make that choice?”
These are precisely the pain points the AI Act aims to fix — visibility, accountability, and explainability — and solving them strengthens both compliance and performance.

What ITSM and ESM leaders should do now
  1. Map your AI footprint: Identify every AI feature embedded in your service stack.
  2. Classify by risk: Align each use case with the AI Act’s categories (minimal, limited, high).
  3. Design with governance: Make compliance, transparency, and human oversight part of workflow design — not a post-launch patch.
  4. Engage expert partners: Collaborate with vendors and integrators familiar with AI governance frameworks.
Position trust as a differentiator: Demonstrate responsible AI practices to customers, boards, and regulators.

Looking ahead

The EU AI Act is not just regulation — it’s a catalyst for higher standards in AI-driven service operations.Organizations that embrace it early will lead with credibility, resilience, and trust.
Those that treat compliance as a formality will lag behind those who treat it as a foundation for transformation.
AI in ITSM is evolving from automation to accountability — and in the era of responsible AI, trust will be the ultimate differentiator.

Talk to us about accelerating compliant, high-velocity service management.

Written by
Deniz Timartas
Deniz Timartas
Strategic Advisor
Deniz Timartas is a strategic advisor that uses Atlassian tools and ITSM best practices to help customers achieve efficiency and success. Deniz is also an ITIL Managing Professional and trainer.
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