Life. The missing ingredient of AI. Funded by the military. What could possibly go wrong? Never bet against humanity's ability to destroy ourselves trying to "become as gods".
Have you ever played the janky yet excellent JRPG Xenogears?[1] It's about exactly that, even including the phrase "become as gods" (at least a close paraphrase).
Are there any English novels like Xenogears or Xenosaga?
What most people don't realize is that pretty much all of the major players in the AI field in private industry as well as academia are partially funded or paid by the military. Yes even Google takes military contracts... Many of them...