Riveting without heating the rivet, of course: Cold Rivets - Types and Uses
Hot, cold and pop. Those are the three rivets I know of. Pop riveting isn't terribly high strength, especially when it comes to shearing, so it's not going to be useful for an AK. Putting red hot rivets in the AK and mashing them seems like overkill; they're not big enough to be hard to deform.
You can always do a screw build, but IMO factory AKs are riveted for a reason.
I asked because I've never heard it quite put that way in reference to AKs.
I've been building AKs for years for my personal enjoyment and collection.
Screw builds are for wallhangers, imho.