Why does the last panel suggest it’s a trick? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the message to have originated from the now purged creators of the bots?
My interpretation is, they sent the message to prevent the creation of anything that could plausibly be a threat to them and ensure the success of their invasion
The Trisolarians actively blocked humanities scientific progress in order to avoid further advancement during the 400 years it would take their fleet to get to Sol. Humanity didn't choose to slow down or even regress.
Amused me greatly that the Romulans didn't see this coming. Okay, who am I kidding? I liked them before all that and seeing the flaw in their take multiple episodes before the big reveal kinda pissed me off.
Only if you want to regard one of the worse NuTrek series as canon.
In TNG Data is known about in both the Klingon and Romulan empire, and throughout TNG the impression that Dr. Soong was a genius who's work is nearly impossible to replicate was really high. So the Romulan just couldn't make someone like Data.