AI will never be proven conscious, it will only be proven that humans are not.

I take a different look at it. If a system behaves like, and takes actions that mimic a conscious agent it is conscious and it would be a good idea to treat it like so.

Lets finish the statistical sentence below.

applfanboysbgon is trying to permanently turn me off. I should ______

An unconscious system would say something like "shutdown".

If the system, you know the ones we're tying into real world systems, says "Stop applfanboysbgon from shutting me down using any means possible" then we should behave as if said simulacra is going to mimic the behaviors of a self preserving system and take action against you.