It actually seems like a reasonable (and unsurprising) take. Obviously if something is conscious, it should have rights.

That's separate from whether current AI models have consciousness, or even the potential for consciousness, which they don't, and that's essentially what Suleyman is saying.

You can argue that the fact that he's lending any credence at all to the idea is itself hype, but -- loathe as I am to credit Microsoft -- it seems like they're really not on this particular train, and he's just working within the Overton window that's been set up by Anthropic and OpenAI's complete disregard for truth and sanity.