Yes, I agree with you on your points. But you failed to acknowledge that there is a possibility of site "employed" bots of which the OP is talking about. Not that I care, but common sense does dictate such possibility.
I certainly did acknowledge it. That's the house bot I mentioned. Again, rarer than most people think.
The vast majority of opponents that the vast majority of people *think* are bots, are not bots at all. Among those that are actually bots, the vast majority are likely to be for-profit bots operated by players, not the sites themselves.
In the early days of
online poker, it was common industry practice to employ both house (prop) players and house bots to fill seats and start games. Prop players are actually still used at some rooms, which are basically just 100% RB players but they play with their own funds. After the online poker boom and more widespread scrutiny of online practices, the industry moved away from things like employing bots, allowing multiaccounting, datamining, etc. In the early days they didn't care much about those things. Now they know in the scandal-weary and security-conscious environment of today that they can't be found to be doing things the public would consider "shady." This is the same business argument against rigging.
That's not to say there are ZERO house bots out there, just that the vast majority of sites will be averse to doing so. Some of the smaller, struggling site, maybe. iPoker has a reputation for being a haven for bots, but I think more for turning a blind eye (or else gross incompetence) towards player bots than actually employing bots themselves.
And finally, I repeat: it really isn't anything to concern yourselves over. Bots can't see your hole cards, they're just using AI to make the same decisions that a genius poker player would make, it doesn't mean they'll win 100% of the time. And whether it's a good bot or a good reg, you should be avoiding them unless you can exploit them. And there are far far fewer bots than there are good regs. If there is ample evidence to show an actual bot, turn it over to the security department and let them investigate and ban it. It'll just pop up under another account of course, but there really isn't much else you can do nor reason to expend much anguish over it.
