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> No, the reason robots and software have no inherent rights is because the law says so.

This is based in a limited theory of rights being delivered by a state as sovereign rather than inherent to every being. There are other valid ways of interpreting rights beyond "because the law say so."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_and_positive_rights

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Those other methods are great in a philosophical debate, but have no power until implemented as law.

I'm not saying you're wrong, those kinds of debate are great at telling you what the law should be, but the practicality of it is that a right you can't enforce is not useful.

> have no power until implemented as law.

Influence is power. For a stark example, consider Sharia.

A view that a sentient entity has no rights but what the law gives is incompatible with that entity’s agency. Enumeration of rights is for the purpose of limiting the laws that govern any entity’s behavior and are not a specification for what the entity may do.

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