Brings to mind Greg Egan's short story "Crystal Nights", in which a tech billionaire works out that the best way to create a singularity-type AI is to evolve one rather than try to design one. He sets up a virtual world inside a (conveniently powerful) supercomputer, starts with very basic organisms, and then manipulates the environment to encourage evolution in the directions he wants. Things don't quite go as expected. Well worth reading.