AI firms should face prison over creation of fake humans, says Yuval Noah Harari

Sapiens author tells Geneva summit proliferation of fake people on social media could lead to collapse in democracy

The creators of AI bots that masquerade as people should face harsh criminal sentences comparable to those who trade in counterfeit currency, the Israeli historian and author Yuval Noah Harari has said.

He also called for sanctions, including prison sentences, to apply to tech company executives who fail to guard against fake profiles on their social media platforms.