A sufficiently intelligent and connected AI could run a corporation, start a religion, amass a fortune, recruit an army, etc. Just look at all the mere mortals who do that. It could manufacture news, manufacture video of a charismatic leader, make phone calls, pretend to be whatever it wanted. I'm just spitballing here, but it's very easy to see that an all you need is intelligence, desire, and the ability to communicate, and you can take over the world--or at least enough of it to control your destiny.