[patrickk]

But there is infinitely more atoms out in the Solar System and beyond... isn't a more likely scenario that the AI would quickly figure out how to blast out of Earth's gravity well and spread throughout the universe? It might accidentally kill a few humans in the process, but not intentionally...like a human crushing an ant when crossing the road.

[akanet]

Why would you bother expending vast amounts of joules to get more atoms until after you've consumed all the ones surrounding you right now?

[TeMPOraL]

Exactly; the atoms you have around you are perfectly fine for bootstrapping the process of getting to the atoms out there.

[sandstrom]

We will be the biological bootloader for the AI :)

[shepardrtc]

That's assuming that the atoms around you aren't fighting back. Its simply easier for a machine to get itself into space to do whatever it needs to do rather than fight with the organic things on a planet.