Is software the result of top-down intelligent design or evolution?

The recent explosion of interest, hype, and fear about artificial intelligence, data science, machine learning, and robotics has focused a spotlight on software engineers. The business magnate Elon Musk has called for regulation and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin has declared that world domination will result from mastering AI. Are software engineers responsible for these outcomes? Here, I argue that software engineers have less control over their designs than they likely realize. Instead, software technologies are evolving in a Darwinian way, or more precisely, they are co-evolving with human culture.