[xpe]

?! Your interpretation is inconsistent with the article you linked!

> Should we be concerned about model welfare, too? … This is an open question, and one that’s both philosophically and scientifically difficult.

> For now, we remain deeply uncertain about many of the questions that are relevant to model welfare.

They are saying they are researching the topic; they explicitly say they don’t know the answer yet.

They care about finding the answer. If the answer is e.g. “Claude can feel pain and/or is sentient” then we’re in a different ball game.