What’s New with Nigel and LabVIEW 2026?
What you’ll learn:
- How is artificial intelligence being integrated into LabVIEW?
- What is Nigel?
- What’s new in Nigel?
Integration of large-language-model (LLM) chatbot support is ongoing with NI’s product line in the form of the Nigel AI Assistant. This includes its flagship LabVIEW development environment as well as other test and measurement tools like FlexLogger and InstrumentStudio.
NI’s Austin Hill and Anand Jain highlight some of the new additions to Nigel (watch the video above). This includes the ability to do vibe coding, creating LabVIEW virtual instruments (VIs), as well as test plans and working through other test and measurement chores like hardware configuration.
Nigel: From Advisor to Coder to Agent
Nigel is designed to do one thing, help with test and measurement applications. Originally, it supplied users with information about programming and configuration via NI’s tools. It can now perform operations like code completion of graphical LabVIEW VIs in addition to providing tips and documentation. It will be able to create new VIs based on user input.
Nigel isn’t a general chatbot like ChatGPT because Nigel has been trained specifically on NI’s data, including documentation. This makes the responses more reliable and focused on NI’s tools.
The level of focus is highlighted by the way Nigel can organize raw data, as shown in the NI Connect 2026 keynote trombone demo (about 25 minutes into the keynote video). It starts with playing a trombone into a microphone linked to NI’s SystemLink and Nigel. The raw data is transformed into a color-coded chart and, subsequently, users are able to query Nigel about the information.
Nigel can now develop test plans and ask follow-up questions to get more context when developing the plans. It also spans the breadth of NI tools like LabVIEW, SystemLink, and FlexLogger so that it remembers your work context rather than working on isolated projects within a particular tool. While Nigel can use different models like GPT and Claude, the ability to know the context of the tools involved makes it easier to construct software that works together.
Another Short Nigel Overview
About the Author
William G. Wong
Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.
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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.
I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.
Austin Hill
Section Manager – Test Software Product Management
Austin Hill leads the Software Product Management team in Emerson Test and Measurement, where he has spent the past decade shaping innovative solutions for automated test and measurement. In his 10 years at NI, he has held roles in hardware and software product management, marketing, applications engineering and technical sales.
Anand Jain
Product Architect Lead @ Emerson Test and Measurement Group
Anand Jain is a Distinguished Engineer in the Platform R&D group at Emerson's Test and Measurement Groiup/NI and engages in the development of various products including TestStand, LabVIEW and VeriStand. He is currently working on various aspects of digital engineering and AI-based workflows, specifically looking at leveraging AI and MBSE models to enhance test workflows. Anand represents NI at IEEE working groups on ATML standards.