[shusaku]

Checking each citation one by one is quite critical in peer review, and of course checking a colleagues paper. I’ve never had to deal with AI slop, but you’ll definitely see something cited for the wrong reason. And just the other day during the final typesetting of a paper of mine I found the journal had messed up a citation (same journal / author but wrong work!)

[stefan_]

Is it quite critical? Peer review is not checking homework, it's about the novel contribution presented. Papers will frequently cite related notable experiments or introduce a problem that as a peer reviewer in the field I'm already well familiar with. These paragraphs generate many citations but are the least important part of a peer review.

(People submitting AI slop should still be ostracized of course, if you can't be bothered to read it, why would you think I should)

[shusaku]

Fair point. In my mind it is critical because mistakes are common and can only be fixed by a peer. But you are right that we should not miss the forest through the trees and get lost on small details.