The Current | April 16–30, 2026: Everyone Is Now Yelling. Hardly Anyone Is Saying Anything.
Every two weeks, we send The Current to B2B leaders who want communications intel they can actually use. Below is our latest issue. If you'd like it delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe at the bottom of this page.
This issue: AI has made it easier than ever to produce content — and harder than ever to say something worth reading. Here's what to do about it.
The Current | April 16–30, 2026 — Kwedar & Co.
The lead
Everyone is now yelling. Hardly anyone is saying anything.
In many B2B industries, everyone was already singing from the same choir sheet. The same buzzwords. The same capability claims. The same “committed to quality and partnership” boilerplate that nobody reads and nobody believes.
Then AI arrived… and the volume got turned all the way up.
According to a 2025 Ahrefs study of 900,000 web pages, 74.2% of newly created pages contain AI-generated content. And that number is only going up. Here's the part that should concern you: the sameness isn't accidental. When every marketing team is prompting the same tools with the same instructions — “write a professional blog post,” “draft a compelling capability statement” — the outputs are functionally identical. Different logo. Same words.
You're not just swimming in a sea of sameness now. You're drowning.
Here's what gets lost in the hand-wringing about AI: this was never business talking to business. It's always been human talking to human. The person reading your proposal, evaluating your quote, deciding whether to return your call — they're not an algorithm. They're a person who can smell generic from a mile away and is already routing around it.
The way out isn't a better prompt. It's a more distinct point of view. Oscar Wilde said it better than any brand guide ever will: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
What we're seeing
We're noticing a trend in the companies we're talking to. Leaders who never considered themselves writers are suddenly producing content. Polished sentences. Clean structure. No typos. Posts going out on schedule.
And almost none of it sounds like them.
AI has lowered the barrier to entry for content creation in a real way, and that's not nothing. But “sounds better than anything I've ever written” is a low bar if the content doesn't actually say anything. Grammatically correct and strategically empty is still… empty.
The content box is getting checked without anyone asking whether the content is actually working. Whether it reflects how the company really thinks. Whether a prospect who reads it and then gets on a call would recognize the same voice, the same perspective, the same personality.
In most cases, they wouldn't. And that gap — between the polished post and the actual human on the other end of the deal — is where trust goes to die.
The cautionary tale
We've seen this play out more than once. A company decides they don't need help with their communications; AI can handle it. And in a narrow sense, they're not wrong. The press releases go out. The pitches land. Coverage appears.
But read the coverage. Really read it.
The quotes are verbal milquetoast. Technically correct, utterly forgettable, and now permanently attached to that company's name in a publication they can't edit. That's not strategic PR; it's a paper trail of missed opportunities.
Earned media is one of the most durable assets a company can build because it lives forever and carries third-party credibility no ad budget can buy. But that only works if the words are worth keeping.
A mediocre quote in a trade publication isn't a win. It's just bad writing on the record. In perpetuity.
One thing worth your time
Find something your company has published in the last 90 days: a post, a proposal intro, a capability statement, anything. Remove your logo and your company name.
Now ask: could this have been written by anyone?
If the answer is yes, you have your next project.
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
About The Author
Lauren Kwedar Cockerell is founder and president of Kwedar & Co, a Fort Worth-based PR, messaging, and strategic communications firm serving purpose-driven B2B companies. She is also the firm’s lead PR and marketing strategist, host of our podcast The Impatient Entrepreneur, as well as a frequent podcast guest.
Over the past 20+ years, she has worked with 100s of leaders and organizations to create PR and marketing strategies and tactics that support visions and reach goals.
To connect with Lauren, please send an email above, or book a consultation.