New research paper drop or go viral > create a repo with AI code > post it in social media. Users star a repo to bookmark it. The few who test the code write in the issue section and get their issue closed with no replies.

Thats why some subreddits flagged these name squatters.

I think a lot of people use stars as a kind of bookmark, not for recognition. It takes time to read through the code or set up a working build from a fork. I, for one, occasionally use stars to remind myself to return to a repo for a more thorough look (especially if I'm on mobile at the time).

Also, bots.