They are probably sentient. Now sapience.. is another issue altogether.

big issue is that "Scentience" is a vibes based definition. I don't think we have a working definition that we can use.

in the past it was argued (engire global economy based on) that black people weren't scientient.

The annoying part is that now, "what is scientience" isn't an abstract esoteric philosophical question. but a material question we are ignoring with serious real life implications.

I'm pretty sure many of them, when they get home and close the door behind them, they just stare at the wall until it's time to go out again.

Nah, they are sentient, but they have learned that acting sentient is hardly a profitable asset in many cases.

Mindlessly babbling credible sounding stuff in constant shameless bluffing, that's the way to get ahead.

So now that tech has made a constant shameless bluffing technology, it's no wonder the same people that live that way are super excited.