I was just thinking about this myself. I think it would be best used to mold the Sector AI into doing what you want it to do. Replace the Sector Banner UI section where the AI options (Balanced, Research, Military, Minerals, Respect Tiles, Replace Buildings) with Edicts.
The Respect Tiles and Replace Buildings radio selections would become free on/off Edicts.
Balanced could be a free semi-(maybe)permanent Edict that just uses the vanilla sector AI.
Other Edicts could be added that would nudge (or force) the sector AI to tend toward a certain goal.
These Edicts would most likely be a mix of the current Government and Planet Edicts costing either monthly or lump-sum cost in Influence.