Yes, consciousness may well be the most important thing. Ultimately it's of no use relying on legal frameworks and so on without acknowledging this. Laws can be overturned or bypassed too easily. Ethics fluctuate according to fashion.

We shouldn't be cruel to animals because there's something it's like to be a bear, for instance, including being a suffering bear.

It's worth distinguishing between AI and AGI. An AI is a non-conscious tool (like a go-playing program or an image analyser) whereas an AGI is a conscious, general intelligence which can learn anything it wants to when the opportunity arises. (I'm claiming here that general intelligence is not possible without consciousness.)

Animals are intelligent, conscious and can learn many specific things but don't possess a general learning ability because they lack language and hence they cannot think freely.

A tool can be used and discarded at whim. A general intelligence, person, or animal should not be, because it is a subject.