People use search engines to find answers to questions, and today’s search engines are using AI to answer most of those questions. Gone are the days when the web sites with the strongest keyword match were shown first. Those days are long gone. In the last few years the first four or five links were usually sponsored anyway, so no amount of SEO tricks would get you above them. Now, above the sponsored links is AI, attempting to answer the searcher’s question, pushing your heavily SEO’d content further down the forever scroll.
So has AI killed SEO? Yes and no. Yes if your aim is to get your content on the first page and your end goal is traffic. No if you sell or market the product that is the answer to the question. If someone wants to know what is the best in a certain product category then your aim is not to SEO that you are the best, but get the customer feedback that you are the best. That way AI is more likely to mention your product.
So yes I believe that AI has greatly affected the SEO industry. The game has changed from one where content is king, to positive mentions are king.