I don't see anything at all concerning with this from an ethical perspective....
/s
The problem is that I have no clue where to draw the line between these two scenarios. How many neurons does it take for consciousness?
The smallest mammal on that list is the Little Free-Tailed Bat, with 35,000k.
This feels like something helpful to use in beginning to calibrate one's thoughts about how much mind is capable of running on that many neurons.