I know that 開ける is transitive (“I opened the door”) and あくis intransitive (“the door opened”), but what about ひらく? I’ve been confused on this for so long 
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Hopefully this helps:
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ひらく and あく are interchangeable. Both accepted. (corrected thanks!)
You mean in the WaniKani reading answer? They actually don’t accept ひらく to my knowledge.
If you mean in the real world… they’re not interchangeable. They have different nuances and different transitivity. Only in a few specific situations can you use either, but typically the meaning or grammar changes.
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They are both valid readings for 開く, but ひらくis transitive and あく is intransitive.
To be precise, あく is intransitive and ひらく can be both transitive and intransitive.
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Wasn’t ひらける the intransitive counterpart? 
ひらける is intransitive, but so too can ひらく be.
扉がひらきます is a very common thing to hear on trains for instance.
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Interesting, thanks.
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