The ability to recognize and join a hype train, I presume. It’s one way to appear proactively leading-edge to marginally-informed product managers, marketers, execs and press.

That's an extremely uncharitable presumption. Although I don't agree that routine usage of AIs should be a precondition for regular software engineering jobs, there are good reasons for using LLMs besides "joining a hype train".

Nah.

I ask what their current workflow is, how they check and verify things, what their approach to prompting is etc. I'm looking to see that they've developed basic skills, have a reasonable mental model of what models can do well, what they currently can't do, and have an approach to be productive using the tools.