There are some great bots out there on steemit with all sorts of functions. I often use bid bots as tipping bots for when I want to vote on something but my vote is too low.

The problem isn't really the bot but our mindsets of being selfish and wanting to benefit us first over others. We want to create programs that are helpful but someone is always going to abuse them and instead of having to rework the program we should be looking at changing peoples mindsets but that is too idealistic I suppose

Bots are here to stay and honestly I don't mind them that much, they bring additional transactions and trade volumes to steemit so in essence it is helping the economy grow as a whole even if some people are just voitng themselves up