As someone who doesn't yet have any firearm at all (due to reasons), and has mostly just been researching in the meantime, it doesn't look like there'd be any meaningful difference in most cases.

Of course, there is a reason for why the AR gets pushed here a lot more, and that's firstly because the 5.56 round is more common in the U.S. (notwithstanding the current shortage), and secondly because the AR is more modular/easier to disassemble and reassemble with other parts, because the AK requires special tooling to do anything with it.

Outside of the aesthetics and performance of the guns themselves, things seem to come down to the type of ammo you're using anyways. 7.62 seems to carry much more power at closer-to-mid ranges under one or two hundred yards, where as 5.56 has a higher velocity so it maintains higher kinetic energy over longer distances…

My conclusion, as someone who has no authority either way, is that an AR is definitely better for hunting anything at a distance, whereas for defense it probably doesn't matter which you us, given you're unlikely to need to defend yourself from someone 3-4 hundred yards away.