They matter less directly than in traditional search, but the same activity that earns links also produces corroboration and mentions, which do influence AI answers. Links are a byproduct of the useful work rather than the objective.
An unlinked brand mention in an authoritative source can carry weight a low-quality link does not.
Paid link schemes are worse than useless here — they produce no corroboration signal.
Judge link work by whether a human would find the placement credible.