Obviously AI isn't alive. Whether it's alive or not doesn't matter. A living being is one that acts to secure its own existence or the existence of its kind. AIs aren't programmed to fear death or want babies like humans are, so they're not alive. Not even as alive as a virus, which does reproduce. Not even as alive as fire.

Drag thinks we should be nice to nonliving beings which have the potential to suffer. After all, as a society we spend tons of money on burials and funerals to help the dead get into the afterlife. Helping nonliving AIs shouldn't be out of the realm of possibility in anyone's mind.