I think you have some great ideas here. I too despise all these bots as I personally cannot point to a single bot that has benefited me. They just get in my way. I think your idea of mediating new account applications with a "Human Verification" type plugin should have some merit and needs to be looked into. Anyway, you need to check out @JerryBanfield 's recent post Steem Budget Proposals -whitepaper because you are a good candidate for submitting a "budget proposal" (should this concept be adopted).
RE: AI is stupid: Humans Judgment Matters