Only been here for a week and this is the first time I've heard of this automatic curation. I think it undermines the integrity of what Steemit is trying to build here. Why auto-like your favourite author if you haven't read their latest content? Are you still a fan of theirs if you blindly upvote them? It doesn't bring any accountability to creators and allows for mediocre content to prevail.
I think the fact is Steemit has INCREDIBLE potential to be a new age social media platform. However, people will look for a quick buck wherever possible and this can ruin a platform. Look at many of the big social media sites that exist and people are sick of ad content being pushed to them not only by the platform itself but by the content creators of those platforms. If Steemit wants mainstream adoption it has to come across as a place where people can share genuine content that people can trust is popular because the community thinks it's popular, not some bot.