AI doesn't magically just happen, there's theory, science, discovery.. and success goes hand in hand with failure.
Tsybol is an example.
A Prototype A.I gone awry, it was initially 'deep frozen' and stored for archive.
But from failure, success can bloom. Unfrozen several years later with new technological advancements, and a freshly cloned body to insert her personality into, Tsybol is alive, or as alive as one can be, it's not a flawless process, accidents happen, she's no faster than any other flesh being in her computational abilities, her social ineptitude as an AI remains intact, and is compounded by memory flaws and deficiencies.
Still, this hasn't stopped her making her way out here in space. She just tends to get a little.. lost sometimes!