If we have the debate about AI conciousness backwards, does that mean we should be worried about humans losing conciousness instead of the AI to gain it?
Equating current social consideration with moral consideration undermines the entire point of discussion moral standing!
That's literally how it works right now for rich vs poor. The laws are written so that the rich can profit off the deaths of thousands or millions, but the moment a poor person kills one of them, you get a whole media circus. We've also gone through phases of slavery where the owners were real people and the slaves were treated as if they weren't really people.