I think the West became fully aware of the AK in 1956 when it was seen in public during the Soviet invasion of Hungary but it was probably considered to be nothing more than a more powerful sub-machinegun.
I think the West was aware of the 7.62x39mm ammunition because they knew of the SKS but probably didn't know specifics about the round or Soviet intentions for it. They did know that the Soviets had captured plenty of StG44 rifles and its 7.92x33mm ammo and probably figured that the Sovs were as interested in the 'short' rounds as they were.
The West seemed to completely misunderstand the employment concept for the StG44 and they appear to have carried that over to the AK as well, assuming that they were to be used as SMGs. It wasn't until the 1960s that the West (specifically the USA) started to invest in 'assault' rifles (after the West dropped the ball <cough-pressure from someone to adopt 7.62x51mm-cough> with the British EM-2 and the CETME Modelo 1 and Modelo 2 and even the French CEAM 1950 Carbine in .30Carbine)
It's been assumed for a number of years that the Soviets simply made their own version of the 7.92x33mm round but I've read other reports that state the Soviets were already investigating mid-range ammunition and so the German 7.92mm Kurz ammo simply confirmed some of their findings.
Incidentally, I have a vague notion that the British 7mm was influenced directly by the 7.92x33mm but I can't recall where I read/heard that so take that with a grain of salt.
The M2 Carbine was "almost" an assault rifle and I think the only thing holding it back from being classified as one is that the ammo was no more powerful than the .357Mag - so to be harsh, it uses a high powered pistol round rather than a rifle round but it pretty much hits all the right marks in other regards. To be fair to the M1/M2 carbine though, it was not intended as an infantryman's rifle so it was never designed as a replacement for the battle rifles then in use.
In something of a slap on their own back, the Soviets produced the AK which influenced the thinking that produced the M16 which then went on to influence Soviet thinking on micro-calibre rounds which thus produced the 5.45x39mm and the AK74 - an AK in an M16 calibre (not quite but you know what I mean!)
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