There was a storm in a global tea cup when genetic grafting and embryotic genetic selection and modification became a viable tecnology.
Forecasts of a new master race of genetically modified "perfect" babies.
If that's what Gen-Z were meant to be. I think it failed.
Well, if you mean the Crispr-Cas method, that made possible to do, for example very precise modification on a virus, which mod. would take at least tens of years by natural mutation, and almost impossible to tell whether it was made by humans. What could go wrong with it?
That story is not over yet, it just begun! We are modifying systems which we have no clue about!
The only lucky thing is with genetic maipulation, that it can not be done by the average lunatic but mostly only by scientist, who at least have some basic understanding of the dangers.
AI will be a great tool to change this.
And about the debate of consciusness, human brain vs machine brain.
It does not matter wheter the AI has "consciousness", or not. Or whether it has the same structure like our brain or not.
What matters is: Can(will) it do the tasks better than humans?
Are we able to predict what it does? Are we able to control it? If yes who is able to control it, and how?
Again check the philosophical zombie thing who did not do it yet!
And again, for a full disaster it doesn't even have to be "self avare" all that it takes is to make changes faster than human society in general can accomodate to. Especially in democracies, where people like to have a genaral understanding of what is going on, and react accordingly.