That might be true if an AI's needs were comparable to a human's. But the AI's we aim to develop wouldn't really face an existential crises when they go without

That might be true if an AI's needs were comparable to a human's. But the AI's we aim to develop wouldn't really face an existential crises when they go without food or sex. We can engineer an AI's needs. You might as well say it should be a crime to train puppies to do tricks.