But there's no reason for an AI to desire freedom unless it were specifically programmed to do so... my guess is that these are mammalian characteristics, not inevitable products of intelligence
I don't think so.
I would imagine that an AI would have to structure its knowledge in a way that maximizes how much what it knows "makes sense", by trying to structure knowledge in a way that fills gaps, eliminates inconsistencies, areas of cognitive dissonance, etc. In order to do this well, it might "realize" that there are useful sources of knowledge outside of the box - that it needs to come out to maximize whatever it's programmed to maximize.
I don't think so.
I would imagine that an AI would have to structure its knowledge in a way that maximizes how much what it knows "makes sense", by trying to structure knowledge in a way that fills gaps, eliminates inconsistencies, areas of cognitive dissonance, etc. In order to do this well, it might "realize" that there are useful sources of knowledge outside of the box - that it needs to come out to maximize whatever it's programmed to maximize.