Artificial intelligence and autonomous systems “are no longer science fiction,” said Gen. John M. Murray, the U.S. Army Futures Command commanding general and the soldier charged with building vast new capabilities for future battles.

Speaking Nov. 28 at the Army Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence Symposium and Exposition in Detroit, Murray said artificial intelligence (AI) has wide implications for battlefield lethality, air and missile defense systems, automated supply, surveillance and improving soldier performance. These are broad implications for the future, Murray said, encouraging industry, academics, engineers and designers to “imagine large.”

Anything being built by the Army requiring perception, decision or action will benefit from artificial intelligence, Murray said, speaking at the event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. “The most significant challenge for us will be how AI in general interacts with and changes the world around us,” he said. “Even narrow AI can fundamentally change the character of war.”

The best case, he said, would be for potential adversaries to not fight the U.S. in the future because artificial intelligence has made the U.S. military so strong.