CORE
October 2026
Take a look at the last piece of content you published – doesn’t matter if it’s a blog, eBook, whitepaper, or landing page.
It’s probably pretty good! No spelling errors. Tight sentences. Paragraphs that flow easily from one to the next.
OK, now ask yourself: could a competitor publish that exact same content simply by swapping in their name?
If you’ve used AI to keep up with the content demands on your team, you’ve got plenty of company. Every marketing leader who responded to our latest CMO Signals & Shifts survey, conducted alongside JM Search, reported using AI in some capacity. More than half see it as a valuable tool for creating content.
And who can blame them? There’s always another article to write, another campaign to launch, and another channel to feed. A tool that helps marketers check off their next task is an easy sell – that list is never-ending.
But checking off the next task doesn’t mean the content is doing its job. Marketers know that, too: 56% cite losing their brand voice as a top concern about AI overuse, while 54% point to declining content quality and originality.
On Thursday, October 22, more than 100 senior B2B marketing and communications leaders will gather in Atlanta to share what’s working, compare notes on what’s changing, and learn from peers facing many of the same challenges.
This year, we’re putting practical AI front and center — with real-world applications, candid discussion and plenty of ideas to take back to your team.
CMO Signals & Shifts suggests marketers know where to start addressing these concerns.
When asked how organizations are building trust in the AI era, respondents put human review of AI-generated content first, at 48%. Authenticity followed at 32%, with human creativity at 31% and transparency about AI use at 28%.
The question is whether we’re willing to fight for the room to exercise that judgment.
When the deadline is tomorrow and AI hands you a polished draft today, it’s tempting to give it a quick read and move on. Do the sentences make sense? Do the facts check out? Any fake citations? No? Great! Another task complete.
Whether we like it or not, someone still needs to consider what customers will take away from our content – and whether it gives them anything worth remembering about our brand or the way we solve their problems.
That might mean going back to a customer conversation for a useful example. Asking a product leader to explain a technical decision. Or pushing an executive to say what they really think about an industry trend.
Work like that takes time. AI’s greatest strength is its ability to draw on what’s common, familiar, and statistically likely to produce an output. Marketing’s greatest strength comes from understanding and sharing what is distinctive, unique, and difficult to replicate to give customers a reason to choose you.
None of this is a reason to pull the plug on your blog or newsletter. But it is a good reason to think about marketing as more than a content engine.
Your company is learning from customers every day. You probably (or, at least, you should!) have some opinions about where your industry is headed. And you’ve made deliberate choices about how you build your technology and the problems you’re trying to solve.
There’s plenty to write about right there. Give your audience a look at the thinking behind your business. AI can help with the research, organize your notes, and get a draft started. But you still need to make room for the conversations and editorial decisions that put your brand’s perspective on the page.
As we sometimes like to say, “Give away the good stuff.”
Is your website ready to be found, cited, and trusted by generative AI? Request a complimentary GEO Readiness Assessment from Arketi to gauge how prepared your brand is to show up in AI-driven search and discovery.
If AI has made your to-do list shorter and your list of questions longer, you’ve got company.
We teamed up with JM Search to ask more than 100 marketing, communications, and PR leaders, including 35 CMOs, how AI is playing out on their teams. Their answers surfaced six surprising truths about what’s working, what’s getting in the way, and what still needs a human touch.
Dig into the findings and see where CMOs and their fellow marketing leaders agree – and where they don’t.
Download the latest CMO Signals & Shifts.
Written by Mike Neumeier, APR, CEO of Arketi Group
Mike Neumeier, APR, is Chief Executive Officer at Arketi Group, an integrated marketplace and workplace communications firm serving B2B technology companies. A co-founder of Arketi, Neumeier has earned more than 100 industry awards, including the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Georgia’s Order of the Phoenix, the National PRSA Hall of Fame, and recognition as one of Atlanta’s Most Admired CEOs. He applies his passion for PR, marketing, and brand building to deliver strategies that drive revenue and measurable client value. For more insights like these, follow Mike on LinkedIn.
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