Not entirely, but it's honestly reshaping where traffic comes from. Purely informational queries — quick facts, ‘what is X’ style questions — increasingly get answered directly inside ChatGPT, Gemini, or an AI Overview without a click, and that traffic is likely gone for good on those query types. Transactional, comparison, and brand-specific searches still tend to drive clicks, since people want to verify, compare pricing, or actually transact on the site itself.
The realistic response isn't panic, it's diversification: treat AI answer citations as a new visibility channel worth earning even without a click, while keeping SEO fundamentals strong for the traffic that still converts through a visit.