I'd echo the question of primary rifle for what purpose? While the AK is a very good rifle for some applications, it ranges anywhere from mediocre to abysmal for others. For example, for a farmer or homesteader wanting something to keep vermin out of the garden, an AK will certainly work but there are other, better choices. For a guide in Alaska wanting something to hunt and/or defend against large and dangerous animals an AK is a rather poor choice.
The AK was designed as an anti-personnel rifle and, for that purpose, it works as well as it ever did. I would certainly not feel under-armed with an AK as a rifle for home defense/life and liberty/TEOTWAKI/Red Dawn/Zombie Hordes or whatever other similar scenario you'd like to envision and I'd say that if you already have an AK for that purpose, you're well armed and I see no pressing need to replace it. As a general purpose rifle the AK also isn't a terrible choice as it retains its anti-personnel capability and the 7.62x39 cartridge offers enough power to make hunting of up to whitetail deer-sized game practical (though an AK wouldn't be my first choice for that particular task for a variety of reasons).
That being said, the current market makes the AK a less attractive option that in was 10-15 years ago. The days of the sub $400 AK rifle and $0.10/round 7.62x39 ammunition are over and doubtful to return. For a decent AK these days you're looking at a minimum of $600-700 with $800+ being fairly common. Also, due to inflation and world events, 7.62x39 ammo, while not rare or particularly expensive, is nowhere near as cheap and widely available as it used to be (and 5.45x39 ammo is both rare and expensive now). While AK's in 5.56 NATO/.223 Remington are certainly available (I happen to own one) they're not cheap, not as common as those in 7.62x39, and decent magazines are rarer and more expensive.
Honestly, I was not a fan of the AR-pattern rifles for a long time and they still don't particularly excite me. That being said the combination of the rifles becoming so common and inexpensive, 5.56/.223 being the last relatively affordable centerfire rifle cartridge, easy ability to swap uppers to different barrel lengths and calibers, and wide availability and low cost of parts and accessories (particularly good mags like Magpul PMags) makes some flavor of AR-15 the rifle I'd recommend for a first/only/general purpose rifle.
I guess that in 2023 I'd put the AK in the same category as most other non-AR semi-automatic rifles like the Ruger Mini-14/30, Tavor, HK-33/clones, Steyr AUG, and the like: If you already have one and plenty of mags, ammo, and other accessories then you don't really need to throw it away or run out and get something different, but if you're looking to buy a new rifle for life and liberty an AR of some sort is probably the most economical and practical option.
