If we have an AGI equivalent to a mouse, wouldn't it iterate itself to a human intelligence pretty rapidly? Safeguards and intelligent thinking now could be the difference between:

Mouse -> cat -> shark -> Evil human mastermind -> problems

and:

Mouse -> cat -> dolphin -> helpful friendly human -> better world

The end situation is highly theoretical, but a self-modifying AGI will think differently than a human does, so it's hard to predict what could happen with our existing preconditions. With such a broad range of potential divergence, and a steep difference in desirability of potential outcomes, it seems reasonable to ask some pointed questions sooner rather than later.