Seems easier just to kill the humans, and then not bother with that complicated multi-step process
Why would any AI care about killing people? It's being engineered to make companies money.
it's not "engineered", it's grown via GSD in a process no one understands well
Sure. It's still unlikely to take action that kills people on purpose (in the absence of being promoted to).
Only the ones that make their owners money get kept, so that's the most likely thing that they're going to do.