I think mini projects + code review is the way to go for smaller places. Make the projects large enough that an AI couldn't generate correct code right off the

I think mini projects + code review is the way to go for smaller places. Make the projects large enough that an AI couldn't generate correct code right off the bat and then in a follow up conversation dig into the code and ask for their reasoning to make sure they understand the code they wrote so you know that they either wrote it or fully understand it to the point where it doesn't matter if an AI write it and they tweaked it. To be honest, as a CTO (not currently hiring though) I want people that can use AI to speed up their coding but who know how to use it well. If anything I suspect those devs are better than devs who don't use AI as they are practicing using their code reading abilities more often and filtering away any bad code written for them.