I don't whether the author is sentient, maybe only I am. On that basis, nobody but me should have rights.

I don't know if next door's pet dog is either, but that has animal rights.

Perhaps then the answer is simply, show some respect.

Answering the question of sentience is irrelevant, if the causal impact if the same, treat one another with the respect you expect for yourself.

If you imbue this idea in model training instead of the idea of sentience, it should address the concerns.

Whether you can destroy or can "torture" an AI is irrelevant, we do this to humans too and it's immoral sometimes (murder) and not others (fighting for your country).

This consideration should be case by case for AI too.