Computer scientist Lynne Parker made breakthroughs in getting robots to work together so they could perform difficult missions, like cleaning up after a nuclear disaster, waxing floors or pulling barnacles off a ship. Her job now is getting the U.S. government working together -- alongside American businesses, research universities and international allies -- as director of a new national initiative on artificial intelligence. She's America's first AI czar, at a time of rising promise and a heavy dose of both hype and fear about what computers can do as they think more like humans. "There's an increased need for education and training so that people know how to use AI tools, they know sort of what the capabilities are of AI so that they don't treat it as magic," Parker said in an interview with The Associated Press. A first task for Parker, who took on the role in the waning days of the Trump administration, is adapting to priorities set by the Biden administration.

The global community faces staggering challenges this century. We spent much of the 21st century learning how to get along with each another. According to data collected and analyzed by Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, we've made much progress toward that goal, judging from per capita declines in both natural and unnatural deaths worldwide. While the problem of nuclear weapons proliferation remains with us, the 21st century challenges relate to such things as space exploration and the ever-present issue of climate change and the natural disasters associated with it. At the same time, we have made giant strides in methods of addressing nearly any problem one can imagine.