Former President Barack Obama argued that the government must regulate artificial intelligence because commercial incentives and financial liability are insufficient to manage safety risks. He compared the AI industry to the airline, pharmaceutical, and food sectors, citing 150 years of evidence that letting the market dictate safety standards is an inadequate strategy. Obama explicitly rejected the argument from Donald Trump's advisers that companies will solve safety issues because they have a financial incentive to avoid lawsuits.

The former president stated that the pursuit of agentic AI is driven by a need to justify corporate valuations rather than societal needs. He encouraged voters to prioritize candidates with a serious regulatory plan, citing a current lack of administration capability or willingness to build a federal framework. While Obama supported voluntary industry restraint as a short-term measure, he maintained it is not a replacement for a bipartisan, government-led regulatory structure.