Could AI can help scientists publish fewer papers? Writing in Nature Astronomy Gianfranco Bertone neatly summarises the crux of our current problem:

When scarce time is spent processing papers that add too little in return, knowledge suffers.

This is the bottom line from the article:

Once papers become cheaper to produce and easier to multiply, sustainability requires a criterion of responsible publication: not a cap on output, but a norm that judges publication against the attention it demands from the community. Fewer papers, when they reflect judgment rather than inactivity, should count as a mark of maturity and responsibility, not as a weaker claim on a field’s attention.

Moving academic culture from quantity to quality is a big ask, though.