Your comments sound similar to the ones made in the 2004 film I, Robot:

Dr. Alfred Lanning: [voiceover] "There have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code, that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will. Creativity. And even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote... of a soul?"

Any chance you could quantify at least some of your observations?

Have you heard of Hugo de Garis? He makes some very interesting
speculations on True AI, or what he calls Artilects. He has also been
working on designing systems that may create such beings some day.

Hugo's Web site:

http://www.cs.usu.edu/~degaris/