The "Ocean Protectors" posting messages online were also their doing. However, they weren't real people. They were AIs.
Being the people of the fifth age, they had much more advanced technology than ordinary human beings. Most of their work had been automated.
Their AIs were close to perfection. They had thoughts of their own.
Some had suggested AIs and robots couldn't have independent thoughts because it would lead to the destruction of the human race. It would start a century-long war between robots and humans.
Constant upgrades would mean robots would think faster than humans did. Therefore, the human race would lose in the end. They couldn't beat the AI.
Based on these people's research, plenty of planets in the universe had gone through that process and became slaves to machines.
It was all because the AIs had been given too much intelligence.
A robot could have its parts changed. That included all the parts from head to toe.