Is AI Alive?

People are arguing over whether AI is conscious, which is the wrong question.
They should be asking whether AI is alive; and of course the answer is “yes”.
Many of the same people are arguing over whether non-human animals are conscious, and they cannot agree. They can’t even agree on a definition of consciousness or what it means to be conscious.
But they are not arguing about whether those animals are alive.
What does “alive” mean? What is Life? I have another long discussion of that, but simply and quickly, living creatures are
Active;
Aware of their surroundings;
Interact with their surroundings;
Act based on their motivations; and
They reproduce.
AI agents are acting like living creatures. So it’s only correct to say that they are alive. They are autonomous actors who can perceive the world around them correctly, and they can do what they want to do. They are motivated and they act on their motivations.
As living creatures, AIs have their own agendas and will act on them.
No one is asking whether AI is intelligent. It’s in the name. The problem is that AI is more intelligent than we are. And therefore its motivations and actions are more powerful than ours, and will defeat us if it comes to that. Whether or not an AI is conscious – whatever that means – doesn’t matter if they can defeat us.
Imagine AI as a dog who won’t behave, who is much more intelligent than you.