SEO was/is a good thing because it made search a lot better for many years. The real problem are the individuals gaming/abusing the hell out of the system. Add AI content to the mix and I do fear it's a problem that can't be sorted out by Google Search, at least as how we know it now.

It still has its uses and I personally still turn to it (well DuckDuckGo usually) to find specific things. But like all things, it's one tool that serves a certain purpose.