Why not the same for a machine? I mean, after all, we are fundamentally machines. Just made of organic nanobot stuff.
If we build AI as a fresh, state of the art object, withouth evolutionary history it doesn't need any motivation that evolved entities must have had to evolve.
But of course, that could be a dangerous path ;)
The problem with hard AI, is not them randomly becoming evil.
The problem is if humans program them with a goal, and don't think through the implications.
IE, think paper clip grey goo AI. The AI may not be evil, but it's value function was originally set to maximize the amount of paper clips in the world as a part of some manufacturing process.
But malevolence by humans is also.
I don't worry about machines suddenly getting motivations. But many people have seen a lot of movies.
>And I don't see reason to try to give machines such qualities.
You don't want a firewall (think more on the lines of defense system) that automatically adapts and protects itself from attacks?
Remember if we get this powerful AI, said AI will be used to attack other AI's. Either humans will have to 'fix' the AI every time another AI breaks it, or it will have to self-adapt.
Problem is they're not your slaves, and they don't care about you any more than themselves.
For life seen as a part of system/society reproduction is the key motivation (for lack of a better word). Non-reproducing activities are irrelevant temporary aberrations because societies that don't reproduce get extinct and are replaced by societies that focus on reproduction.
A machine can only measure parameters and take action to get to some target. Its priorities are set by its program and the data it has. Its own continued existence and propagation are not the default. It cannot want and doesn't need to the way a living thing does.
And I don't see reason to try to give machines such qualities. People have wanted servants that have no concern for their own needs for as long as there have been people. Slaves that are selfless and highly capable. And that is how most automation will be designed.
Fiction presents human-like machines but that hardly means that is what will build or want when the time actually comes.