I personally feel AK is an overrated hand, and I know of a few big name poker players who feel the same. T.J. Cloutier ranks AK about the same in value as TT. I wouldn't agree with that, but I do feel it's overrated. Here's a few reasons why:

On the topic of going all-in before the flop with AK:

You're not going to see any action here unless you're beat, most likely. If your table image is strong at all, only KK or AA will call you (which dominate you) or everyone folds. You'll either win a little or lose a ton, most of the time.

We all know that AK is pretty much a coin toss against any non KK/AA pocket pair. But that's only if you see ALL 5 CARDS. And normally, this doesn't happen. If you don't see an A or K on the flop, you often will face a decent sized bet, and be forced to lay the hand down. You can't afford to chase here..if you don't flop to it, you almost always have to lay it down, IMO. If you raised with AK before the flop, you have to consider that the other guy probably has something decent if he stood your raise. If he has any pocket pair at all, you are way behind after the flop if you don't see an A or K. So while statistically AK is almost equal to QQ/JJ/TT/etc. you often won't see (or shouldn't pay to see) the turn/river cards unless you are both already pot comitted (such as having already gone all-in before the flop, which as I mentioned earlier can often be a mistake).

Just my thoughts. I've lost a ton of money on AK and AKs. I've lost a ton of money, period...so maybe I'm not the guy to listen to