The whole debate over what is and isn't conscious is foolish, if you ask me. It's essentially a proxy for what does and does not deserve ethical consideration. In that regard our desire to exploit the universe around us without consideration will bias our reasoning considerably. The debate around ML models that you are referencing is illustrative of this.
The much harder ethical quandary is how we should operate in a universe where we are not specially privileged, and as a species I think we are generally unwilling to consider such a thing.
I don't equate consciousness with ethics in any way. I measure consciousness as the ability to accurately understand ones environment. Each level of accurate understanding is distinct.
The much harder ethical quandary is how we should operate in a universe where we are not specially privileged, and as a species I think we are generally unwilling to consider such a thing.