It seems to me that they have the ability to boost indefinitely, despite their ships having enormous boost power requirements, and to fire while boosting. Is this mistaken observation, or have the devs given them some kind of AI super power?

They're just very skilled at turbo-tapping. Seriously. All bots have been able to boost infinitely and fire since the "New" Sector 8 bots were released in the late 3.1.x's. I was told that it was turbo-tappping.

They also seem to have the ability to strafe backwards at impossible speeds (for a PC).