> The next question is: does it matter?

Obviously not, because the label follows the relationship and nearly all labeling of AI justifies an existing relationship rather than determining it.

What these folks want to do is apply a label, convince themselves their relation to the object is a product of that label and not the other way around. The normative commitments come first and the taxonomy follows. Somehow they've smuggled in this weird behavior and tried to bring other people into this delusion without ever getting called out on it.