Lets see. The AK in one form or another has been in production for 60 years and so far the world has built more over
90 Million of them. Variations of the Stoner design have been in production since 1960 and the best info I have found so far is that there are about
9 million of them.
As for the crap about AR reliability, a lot of that is rumor based on issues when the design first went into the field in the 1960's and most of those problems have been solved for many years.
So lets see. Your choice is between the most produced rifle in history that is so common that even people who know nothing about guns can identify one on sight. A weapon that works in the dirt, without cleaning or high grade maintenance, and that can be repaired by untrained labor in the wilderness using nothing more than basic blacksmithing skills, but is of foreign design. Or a rifle that costs twice as much, is a high precision instrument that is somewhat high maintenance is recognized as accurate by many and is a variant of the US battle rifle.
It kind of depends on your planned use. If you plan to use this in the next war on American soil, you might do better to base your decision on the availability of ammo under battle conditions. If you think we will get invaded, you might want to consider the AK cause that is what the invader may be carrying and your ammo can come from them. If you think it will be a domestic issue, then go with the AR. Or you can get the AR in the same caliber as the AK and have the best of both worlds.
The fact is if you plan to compete get the AR if you just need to toss lead and might on occasion need to reach out and touch someone, get the AK.
Regards