In recent years, it’s been hard to swing a stick without hitting an article on militarized artificial intelligence. Most of them take the form of either advocacy or alarmism, but both of these arguments distract from the reality that future wars will still be driven by human policies.

Despite the fact that most of this technology has yet to be invented, much less fielded, we can’t stop talking about how AI will change the way the world fights its wars, or usher in a robot Armageddon. While AI will certainly play an important role in future conflicts, there is risk associated with exaggerating the extent of that role. For one, overemphasizing the potential wonders of synthetic warriors runs the risk of convincing the next generation of real warriors that these machines will fight their battles for them — they won’t.