> many articles would require 2 hours+ to confidently review as a professional

I think ML (and really all other fields) are the same. Skimming a paper never really leaves you certain of how rigorous it is.

I agree that a naive "just add voting" "review" mechanism would not suffice to replace journals. However there's no requirement that the review algorithm be so naive. Looked at differently, what is a journal except for a complicated algorithm for performing reviews?

> I am afraid the need for these publishers will still be there and they will just exist regardless, and it will still be preferred by academics.

Agreed. I doubt publishers are going away any time soon (if ever) regardless of how technically excellent any proposed replacement might be. I still think it's worthwhile to pursue alternatives though.