On the evening of December 6, 2025, The Guardian published a report on the growing "slop" problem (high volume, low-quality work) in AI research. Criticism within the academic community concerns the exponential growth in the number of publications, which overwhelms the peer-review process at top conferences like NeurIPS and lowers the overall standard of quality. The report highlights ethical issues, including mass co-authorship, which calls into question the standards of scientific contribution and result replicability.
The Guardian: AI Research Faces "Slop" Problem (Low-Quality Publications)
