Honestly, I don't think anyone can give you a confident yes or no on this yet - the whole landscape is shifting under our feet. It's a massive change, and the real-world impact on search ads is still unknown.
What I do know is that Google will guard their ad revenue fiercely, so they wouldn't roll this out without some confidence that performance won't be completely tanked. That said, the AI overview rollout has already pushed more 0-click searches, especially for informational queries. Less inventory to bid on means higher CPCs for the remaining clicks. But if you're targeting middle or bottom-of-funnel terms, those clicks might actually be more qualified now - just more expensive. I've seen conversion costs hold steady in my accounts, but there's less room for error.
The big question is how the new search bar will roll out. If it's phased and users need to opt in, we might get some breathing room. If it's all at once come September... well, we'll see.
My two cents: go ahead and start now, but don't throw your full budget at it until September. Test the waters, get familiar with the interface, build some account history. That way, when things change, you'll be in a much better position to pivot than if you jump in fresh when everything's chaotic. Experimenting now gives you a baseline, and that's worth its weight in gold. I wouldn't advise locking in a big commitment without that safety net, especially if you don't have existing data to lean on.
