These words spoken by Jesus weren’t spoken in general terms, it was spoken in specificity, He was speaking in present tense, in absoluteness, in being. We can even say that He was speaking as the first cause of all. The I AM phrase itself isn’t an uncommon phrase that was used in communicating, it’s very much like saying “I am” watching these animals over there or “I am” the parent of this child or “I am” doing this at the moment but when Jesus said it, He said it as a STAND ALONE “I AM”, it wasn’t attached to anything else it was communicated as self being or an immediate presence, no contingencies outside of Himself! This is why the Jews got angry at Him. If you read Exodus 3:14 where Hashem speaks to Moshe and says “I AM has sent me to you” is used the same way Jesus said it in John 8:58.

This is just meant to be a short article, not exhaustive. I hope it makes sense I will go into a greater detail at some point in time. Thank you and Shalom.