Checklist for Migrating From Intel MacBook Pro to M2 MacBook Air?

If you are planning on selling or giving away the old Mac, I wouldn’t recommend erasing/resetting it until after you have successfully done the migration AND have backups.

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support

Many Mac/Intel-only applications will run under Rosetta 2 translation on your Apple Silicon Mac, provided that they are 64-bit applications and don't rely on Intel-only kernel extensions.

If you need to install Rosetta on your Mac - Apple Support

What version of macOS are you running now? If it's anything earlier than Catalina, you should check and see what 32-bit applications you are using now. (They won't work on the new machine).

To do that, select About This Mac in the Apple () menu, select System Report…, and select Applications. Wait for the Mac to compile the list, then click on the 64-bit (Intel) column header to sort by that field (and group all of the 32-bit applications together for easy identification).

If it is Catalina or later, you're already over the "end of 32-bit support" transition.

I'm sure that the Apple applications pre-installed on the Apple Silicon machine (Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc.) will be optimized for Apple Silicon. I don't think Migration Assistant will be dumb enough to overwrite them with old Intel-only versions from your previous machine.

Universal 1 was PowerPC and Intel binaries in the same package.

Universal 2 is Intel and Apple Silicon binaries in the same package. If those applications show as Universal and aren’t 10+ years old, you have native Apple Silicon versions.