I think there's value in linking to interesting articles if the intent is to have discussion about their content. If the summaries are lazy and brief, that's clearly not the intent of these bots.

The bots are one major factor that makes Steemit difficult to get into. The other major factor is obsessive self-reflection. The top posts are usually about Steemit itself, how to make money, etc.

Imagine a person who only talked about themselves all the time (we can probably all think of one prominent example...) Wouldn't you rather spend time with someone who had interesting, original thoughts on the world or helpful information?