Niantic probably knows when anyone is botting (or not at all) either way, it really doesn't much matter, so go bananas or don't do it at all
I have been running a dozen different bots on a bunch of different accounts. None have been banned (nor has any player yet so far.) It's likely that Niantic is more concerned with all the broke shit in their game at the moment. Doesn't mean they won't smash us all one day.