The first runaway "AIs", so to speak, may be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waqf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waqf which are like an early Islamic version of th

The first runaway "AIs", so to speak, may be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waqf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waqf which are like an early Islamic version of the modern trust. These Waqfs grew so large that at times, they controlled a significant fraction of the economy of various Islamic countries. Many functions like social welfare programs were completely funded by these entities. One of the reasons Waqfs gradually declined is that they threatened the authority of governments in the same region. 1600s Europeans were worried enough about this (runaway legal entities caused by interest-bearing trusts) that they invented the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_against_perpetuities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_against_perpetuities There are certain US states which do not have the Rule Against Perpetuities, so it's possible that even in the absence of modern AI, we would have seen the resurgence of Waqf-style runaway perpetual autonomous corporations.