The neuron models used in the open worm project… function…

That is to say that the complete organism model can learn to swim, which about all the organism is supposed to be able to do.

I see what you’re saying though, that human-level function will likely be much more difficult to fine-tune.

The ethics of it all are a philosophical wormhole. Ultimately, its “consciousness” would be an image of a real person. I don’t think we would have to worry about it too much. Saying it was truly conscious would be like saying that a video of a person was conscious.