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Hum, IIRC, using your definition of an AOT compiler, then V8 is an AOT compiler. V8 never interprets code. It immediately compiles it to machine code. It improves it later, but it's never slow.

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V8 is a JIT compiler that uses the Ignition [1] interpreter and only compiles sections of code down to machine instructions once they've been marked as hot via TurboFan [2].

V8 can also go back and forth from machine instructions back to bytecode if it identifies that certain optimization assumptions no longer hold.

[1] https://v8.dev/docs/ignition

[2] https://v8.dev/docs/turbofan

That literally is the definition of JIT, it does a quick parse, compiles hot parts and improves it later on

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