This post brings up many complex and interesting questions which are well worth investigating deeply. Some of the assumptions also are perhaps highly speculative. So be it. We really have no choice but to speculate about matters of this complexity. However we can try to make our speculations intelligent :) A few toughts came to my mind upon reading this :

First of all I dont know of any indications that what we call "AI" is moving in the direction of becoming a sentient conscious being. As far as I know we still have almost no idea what the origin of consciousness really is. I am especially thinking about "the experience of experience itself" or the unique subjective experience of "Here I am living in this world". Sometimes this is called "the hard problem of consciousness". This unique personal experience of being alive is arguably among the most fundamental human traits.

What we call "AI" seems to be more related with smart algorhitms which can solve specific problems very well. These abilities can become amazingly complex and "intelligent". But still I can not see how this has any relation with subjective consciousness of experience.

The way we treat robots and the entire technology of "AI" may have large importance nevertheless.

Someone mentioned the expression "Do towards others what you want others to do towards yourself". This principle is sometimes called "The golden rule". This golden standard of ethics has a long history as a wise principle of living for any human being who exist among other human beings. It is a pervasive and steady standard which has followed people through our long evolutionary journey. In all human societies we know of the golden rule has been a main standard in some variation or other.

And I think this is for very good reasons : All organisms are pattern-recognizing and pattern-responsive entities. This goes for us and it also goes for animals as well as robots and even weather formations and behives and big societies. We recognize patterns everywhere in the world, there are patterns on all levels of physical reality and all human behaviour follows patterns based on previous experience. We could also say "laws" or "regularities" or "habits".

In any case there is no question that certain things has a tendency to repeat itself. If I begin running every morning my whole body will gradually reprogram itself to prepare for this at the beginning of the next day. If I meet an unexpected obstacle and choose to view this as " a challenge I can learn from", I prepare my brain to respond correspondingly to the next obstacle. If I look at the stranger with friendliness, it influences my attitude towards people.

Social influences and modelling and subconscious imitation carry these same patterns of behaviour from one person and into the rest of society. If I go into a room laughing and smiling, not only do I program my own brain for similar behaviour in the future, but I indirectly program the brains of all the other people in the room also.

The same is the case with what I write on the internet : If I converse in a friendly and constructive way to some unknown person I talk with in a internet chatroom, chances are the other person will respond with a similar kind of behaviour. And if a third party reads the exchange, they will get an impression of "this is what internet communication looks like".

( I try to use constructive positive examples here. The reason for this is that THESE words also establish a pattern in my own brain as well as the brain of anyone who might read them. Therefore I try to choose examples of behaviours I would like to see in the world. From myself and from others ).

So all kinds of behaviour, even in random situations which seem "trivial", actually establish a pattern of behaviour for the future.

How does this relate with the golden rule? This "pattern establishment tendency" is a fact of life which make the golden rule supremely relevant in all situations.

If I want to live in a society where each member is taken well care of ( humans robots and animals alike ) and where the natural attitude of each member is also to use ones best abilities to bring maximum value to the rest of society ( I would say that would be a typical tendency in an intelligent society ), then the single most effective means I have to influence this is to perform this pattern of behaviour myself wherever I happen to be.

In addition to the mentioned "pattern establishment tendency" of all behaviour in physical space, there is also the immediate effect of "how I feel about myself", or "identity" or "self esteem" which is especially important from the personal subjective point of view. As humans we know well the powerful degree to which self esteem affects our emotional state and how much our emotional state affects our ability to enjoy anything at all. The tendency is : The better our self-esteem, the better our subjective quality of life.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the more connected a global society is - the more powerful are the mentioned influences - and the more impactful are the practical results of our own human behaviour. This means that in the age of the internet our personal behaviour matters more for the whole world than ever before. This also means that today the golden rule is more relevant than ever.

Conclusion : Treat the robots well. Treat the animals well. Treat the other people well. Treat yourself well. Treat everyone as well as you possibly can and live a happy existence :)