The UN has preemptively held a conference to stop Skynet. Nope, this is not the plot from the next horrible entry to the Terminator franchise, but real [expletive] life. The "Meeting of Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems" session, which wrapped up last week, is looking to put the brakes on what appears to be an avalanche of more advanced, more autonomous, and ever-spreading weapons systems. The plethora of systems out there — to say nothing of the ones now being developed — is enough to turn you into a survivalist. Exhibit A: Long Range Anti Ship Missile, which can formulate a strategy, and choose targets mid-flight without human commands. Exhibit B: Sea Hunter, an unmanned, robotic "ghost ship" designed to prey upon enemy submarines in the Pacific. Are robots that kill individual humans in a targeted manner far behind? Can such a UN conference succeed in face of such blatant military necessity and overwhelming commercial viability? The answer, according to PW Singer, is simple: We probably can’t. But as long as we continue to demand accountability from the humans who make and manage the AI and drones, we can at least hope to curtail their harmful impact. Read: “Humans Can’t Escape Killer Robots, but Humans Can Be Held Accountable for Them.”