Huge respect for Rich Hickey, and anything he says is worth thinking deeply about.

That said, I think this particular semantic distinction is something we need to think about more from a political perspective than a semantic precision perspective. A tool is something that humans (or animals, or other entities) control for their own purposes. It's important that AI remain a tool of humanity to serve human purposes, following human accountabilities. Because the alternative narrative is that AI is a super-intelligence with it's own agency which we can not control, and while it may make a small handful of individuals incredibly wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, they can't be held accountable because AI has its own agency.

The word "tool" is obviously very old and carries tons of connotation shaped by the world of the past. AI clearly challenges a ton of assumptions about what "tool" and many other words mean. Therefore, while I understand Hickey's point, I think for the sake of our civilization and the moral hazard we are facing, it's better that we consider AI a tool versus whatever narrative the AI cultists are cooking up.