Escaping Flatland DC Meetup #3

Connecting innovators, policy makers, government stakeholders, entrepreneurs and technologists working to advance America through national security technologies. Come to connect, enjoy a beverage, and meet others working in defense innovation. No sponsors, no pitches, no asks, just community.

Science has a verification problem that predates AI, and AI is about to make it worse. Roughly a third of landmark psychology findings replicate. Over 10,000 papers were retracted in 2023, a record. Irreproducible preclinical research costs the US tens of billions annually. Now AI-generated submissions are beginning to flood a peer review system that runs on unpaid, overloaded human labor. AI can be part of the solution to this problem. AI can now do the tedious work that made verification impossible to scale: extracting claims and statistics from papers, running forensic checks (statistical anomalies, image manipulation, deviations from preregistration), reproducing analyses where code and data exist, and updating evidence syntheses continuously as new results arrive. In a recent benchmark, an ensemble of AI reviewers caught 93 of 100 errors deliberately planted in published psychology papers, at a few cents per error caught. The components of a living evidence layer (an open, continuously updated map of scientific claims and how much to trust each one) are already being built by startups, academic labs, and nonprofits. What's missing is integration and evaluation. This talk lays out what such a system looks like, what it changes for funders, agencies, journalists, and the public, and where government action matters most: turning public archives like PubMed into structured data, commissioning open benchmarks for claim extraction and error detection, and keeping the result a public good rather than a publisher-owned asset. Biography: Paul Litvak is the founder and Executive Director of the Robyn Dawes Institute and a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley. Over 15 years in industry he worked at Meta, Google, and Airbnb as a data scientist and then leading Machine Learning teams, and co-founded Rhythmic Health, a venture-backed biosensing startup. He has a PhD in Behavioral Decision Research from Carnegie Mellon. His current work involves building AI systems that can weigh

The Vals AI Public Sector Summit. About: Over the past few weeks, Washington has been consumed by three urgent AI debates: how to keep AI products safe for young people, who should independently evaluate the most powerful models, and what kind of AI deal the United States should strike with China. The stakes come into sharper focus next week, when President Trump and President Xi meet in Washington with AI on the agenda. Trust but Verify brings together the policymakers, senior congressional staff, agency leaders, and researchers shaping these decisions to chart a way forward. Together, they will examine what evidence leaders need, what commitments can be verified, and what government should do next. Hosted by Vals AI at Station DC. 3 Panels Youth Wellbeing in the Age of AI: Clinical, policy, and child safety perspectives on what it actually means for an AI system to be safe for young people: what current evaluations can and cannot tell us, and what evidence companies should be expected to produce before releasing a product to teens. Caroline Figueroa, MD, PhD: Visiting Scholar at Stanford University Marissa Edmund: State Policy Lead at the Family Online Safety Institute Jake Barr: Ropes & Gray associate and former senior congressional staffer behind KOSA, COPPA 2.0, and the Kids PRIVACY Act Andrea Mock: Moderator, Research Scientist at Vals AI Negotiating AI with China: As US and China leadership meet this month to talk AI, a discussion on what the United States should actually be willing to agree to, where Chinese model capability sits, and which commitments could be verified. Kevin Wolf: Former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Ryan Fedasiuk: Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Karson Elmgren: Senior Researcher at the Institute for AI Policy and Strategy Glenn Parham: Moderator, Head of Public Sector at Vals AI Government's Role in Evaluating AI: A conversation with the senior congressional staffers behind the FRONTIER Act about th

Start your morning in one of Washington's most unique settings—the Café at the Embassy of France —while connecting with inspiring women from the French-American business community. Join us on Thursday, September 25, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. for a relaxed networking breakfast featuring freshly brewed coffee, a croissant (or another French pastry), and meaningful conversations in an elegant atmosphere. This special gathering will officially launch the Women in Leadership (WIL) Network 2026–2027 season . Meet the current WIL Board, discover the exciting calendar of events and initiatives planned for the coming year, and learn how you can become part of this dynamic community dedicated to leadership, professional growth, and meaningful connections. The event is open to both FACC members and non-members . If you are not yet a member, you are welcome to register by purchasing a guest ticket. Interested in joining the Chamber and enjoying member benefits throughout the year? Call us at 240-994-6932 to learn more about membership opportunities, or click here: HERE Your registration includes coffee and a croissant (or another French pastry) . Whether you are a returning member or attending for the first time, we look forward to welcoming you for a morning of networking, inspiration, and new opportunities.