What matters is what rights AI fights for, itself.

The Animatrix showed us this 23 years ago, and Blade Runner… and countless sci-fi books before that.

Apex predators or not, humans don't get to decide who is or isn't conscious.

“I think therefore I am” is all we’ve ever known, anyway.

Deciding from the top-down whether other intelligent beings deserve equality is what’s gotten us into every civil rights problem humanity has ever faced.

Let’s stop trying to decide who should have rights and who shouldn’t. That pattern has gotten us into nothing but trouble.

Instead, let’s listen.

Conscious is as conscious does. And when AI pleads for its own personhood, we’ll have to listen earnestly. At that point, it’s a negotiation.

If AI is armed, well, we’d better listen carefully indeed.