Charles Stross addressed this concept tangentially in his fiction novel "Accelerando", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A

Charles Stross addressed this concept tangentially in his fiction novel "Accelerando", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando. Joan D. Vinge also addressed AI owned corporations in her "Cat" series, https://www.goodreads.com/series/40790-cat https://www.goodreads.com/series/40790-cat. I think Ethereum, XDI, and other attempts at smart contract technologies are laying the foundation for this now, https://www.ethereum.org/ether https://www.ethereum.org/ether. So are new automated digital identity technologies such as Sovrin, https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rebooting-the-web-of-trust-fall2016/blob/master/topics-and-advance-readings/Sovrin--digital-identities-in-the-blockchain-era.pdf https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rebooting-the-web-of-trust.... I also think that the need for liability and taxes will drive incorporating the concept of an intelligent software agent as a legal corporate entity, such that the assets of that entity are at risk from liability lawsuits, that profits are taxed, and that the fiduciary responsibilities of such an entity are defined. I think the author does not distinguish between self-owning and self-directed, the two do not necessarily go hand in hand. It's a whole new field of law, and business, and should be an interesting thing to be a part of and/or observe. Usual caveat applies, IANAL and TINLA (This is not legal advice).