Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token < in a script tag

Galactum — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 11:38:35 +0000

So I have a PHP file which contains some JS code and I'm trying to pass an array from PHP into JS

<?php
include('autocomplete.js');
?>
<script type="text/javascript">
// any valid JS code can reproduce this issue because the syntax error is on the line above
var people = <?php echo json_encode($people)?>
</script>

I get an "unexpected token '<'" error and the line referenced is always the one with the script tag in it
Not really sure what to try so if anyone can help out that would be great
Thank you

Forem: Galactum

Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token < in a script tag