Test and measurement teams spend hours researching hardware, developing acquisition code, and untangling projects they inherited from someone else. In a recent Emerson webinar, the NI team showed how Nigel AI now generates LabVIEW code and expands across the LabVIEW+ Suite to reduce that effort. 

The session was presented by David Prida, Christophe Caltagirone, Anand Jain, and Steven Harrison. David, a product marketer focused on the LabVIEW+ Suite and Nigel AI, hosted the walkthrough, with Christophe demonstrating LabVIEW and FlexLogger, Anand covering TestStand, and Steven explaining the strategy behind the tool. 

Why It Matters

Test is a specialized field and finding best practices for system design and development is genuinely difficult and time-consuming. Nigel uses industry-standard models and is enhanced with the NI brand’s 50 years of test and measurement expertise to provide expert guidance and functional solutions. And because it is embedded in the software, it can see connected hardware and tailor recommendations to your actual setup and project. That context turns what would be numerous web searches and generic forum post advice into direct, project-specific guidance. For engineers, the payoff is less time on research and repetitive coding. 

Key Takeaways

• Nigel now generates LabVIEW code from a prompt, producing runnable programs (VIs). 

• Nigel AI is expanding across the platform, supporting LabVIEW, TestStand, InstrumentStudio,  FlexLogger, and VeriStand. 

• Nigel has advanced test expertise and because it’s built into the software, it gains additional context of your system, making every response is specific for you rather than generic. 

• Nigel was first introduced in LabVIEW 2025 Q3, the fastest-adopted version of LabVIEW, reflecting strong demand for these capabilities. 

• Nigel is an accelerant that keeps the engineer in the loop, not a replacement for engineering judgment. 

Generating LabVIEW Code from a Prompt

The headline capability is code generation. Christophe asked Nigel to create a program that acquires data from an NI hardware device and processes it with analysis algorithm. Behind the scenes, Nigel looks up relevant examples, uses the closest ones as a reference design, then pulls the individual functions from the palette and wires their required inputs so the result is fully functional. The finished program displayed raw data on one graph and smoothed data on another, built in about two minutes. 

This first release focuses on generating measurement code, helping users create programs for NI hardware and third-party plug-and-play devices, the most common workflow for LabVIEW users. Nigel can complete common architectures such as producer-consumer loops and unites the platform with the ability to create FlexLogger plugins. Christophe also showed additional examples: a pair of VIs that send acquired data over TCP and receive it for display, and a VI that parses tabulated records into an array of clusters. As he noted, even experienced developers gain productivity on tedious tasks like string parsing. 

In looking to streamline another common workflow of engineers, Nigel also helps with reviewing code. Using the Discuss with Nigel button, a user can send a VI to Nigel for a plain summary of its functions and how it works. Because Nigel then holds context on that VI, you can ask follow-up questions for making modifications or additional clarity. 

Expansion in Availability and Capability: FlexLogger and TestStand 

Nigel now works inside more NI software, like FlexLogger, no-code acquisition software. In FlexLogger, Nigel answers questions and provides guidance using its extensive knowledgebase, guides development by pointing out menus and tools, and pulls device details such as pinout diagrams straight from the manual. 

In TestStand, Nigel gains more capabilities, too. Anand demonstrated sequence generation from a specification file, where users define tests, limits, test conditions, and more. Nigel imports the specification and can either map existing code modules or create new placeholder code. Similar to code generation in LabVIEW, this is a big step in helping users save time as they develop using NI software. 

Bringing AI to Test for the Engineer

Steven explained the development of Nigel AI. Emerson’s NI business has a long history of bringing broadly available technologies into the test and measurement space, so when large language models emerged, the team moved to make them useful for engineers. A tech preview arrived in late 2024, and Nigel launched broadly in the 2025 Q3 release. 

Customer feedback accelerated the development toward code generation, more flexible deployment options such as private cloud instances and local models, and soon agentic capabilities where the AI works in a more iterative, problem-solving way. 

AI is a powerful tool, but both David and Steven stressed the same point: you should always review what an AI produces. Nigel amplifies the engineer’s output; it does not replace the engineer’s judgment. 

Watch the Full Session

See the demos of code generation, FlexLogger plugins, and TestStand sequence generation in full. Watch the on-demand webinar.