Is there a way to keep the [3 fries short of a happy meal] AI from using Lightning based powers when their targets are still 40 feet away?

Maybe something to do with AI bubble size or something?

Not really as the AI's use of wepons is based on range. Hence Saber throwers spamming it till they get close. So going from there one can infer that at range Lightning users will use lightning until they hit close combat ranges. Since the Lightning has a longer range then a Saber (plus they never seem to use the second force power), they use it until you get close enough for sabers.