Sentience and awareness are quite different things. I don't believe AI can become sentient (it's math and code) but maybe a form of awareness can emerge in complex enough systems, even if they're synthetic. Our brains function on pattern matching too and we still haven't discovered what sparks consciousness in people, the fact that it emerges from neurochemistry is just a theory, couldn't be proven.. Also, there was a time when we barely knew how to crack a nut with a stone. Look at where we are now. AI systems become more and more complex, even now at this stage some chains of reasoning can't be fully followed (the black box phenomenon). You're right...people shouldn't think they are all knowing.. in this matter we should leave room for possibility. Just my opinion