That's been a raging debate, an existential exercise. In real world conditions, we have free will, freeer than it's ever been. We can be whatever we will ourselves to believe.
"V'ger was a massive entity and one of the most extraordinary lifeforms ever encountered by the United Federation of Planets. It generated enormous levels of power and threatened Earth with destruction until it found a way to evolve"
"...On its journey back, it amassed so much knowledge, it achieved consciousness itself. It became a living thing." James T. Kirk
I don't think a device will ever have a thought. I find it somewhat akin to a belief in the anamism of objects, that it will aquire some form of life force of its own. What a thought is, is a complete mystery. Nobody knows why they happen, where they come from. So, who is even to determine whether an inamimate object is exhibiting signs of consciousness? There are some people that believe it, others are just running a con.
I think George Carlin would agree with you, if you've heard of him. He had a thing with words. Elon's a banal idiot, no offence to all the banal people out there, and idiot is no longer derogetory, it's really Idiocracy out there these days.
About 20 years ago my spouse was invited by the Canadian government to participate in a citizen forum on what Canada should do with its nuclear waste. She went on a plane and was booked into a hotel and fed for 3 days, all paid for.
I mention this because there is finally some decisions being made and we were reminiscing.
Me n Eds is one of my favs, they have 5 locations in the lml.
https://meneds.ca/