Keep in mind, successful designs will expand in mindspace as they are easy to copy, modify, and improve upon.

You are essentially defining "successful designs" as such. And what we know about evolution is strong supporting evidence for this.

What makes you think the first generation of AI will have all of those qualities? What makes you think the first gen AIs will be useful for building more AIs?

The first biological replicators on earth would be considered non-viable clunky disasters by today's standards.

The only way we can have "Friendly AI" beyond the first generation is if such entities are part of a larger "ecosystem" and they face economic, group dynamics, and evolutionary pressures that motivate (and "motivate") them to be this way.

Perhaps the key to "Friendly AI" is going to be competitive augmentation of Human Intelligence.