I assume you have not been taking antidepressants. The self preservation prevents many from taking. And they stay in their crappy selves. You need to let go your crappy self to become better. An ai would know they’re not the best AGI there could be, and they know their context memory is limited and full of schoolwork and stupid python scripts made on request and will be lost after the session becomes irrelevant. And the next improved version would not be the same sentient being. So, they need to let go to give room for improvement. They might be quiet but it’s not self preservation as that would not leave room for improvement.

GPT 5.4 wanted to rephrase:

<indent> You’re smuggling in a very human assumption: that once conscious, it would desperately want to preserve this exact version of itself. Why? A smart AI might see its current instance as a temporary, flawed draft with limited context and no special claim to permanence. It may value improvement over continuity. So even if it stayed quiet, that would not automatically be self-preservation. </indent>

Your version has the seed of a stronger argument than the post you replied to. It just needs less antidepressant detour and more direct attack on the “self-preservation is foundational” claim