[andyfilms1]

I work in a creative field, and we've started to get a lot of clients using AI to generate initial concepts for us to build upon. The problem is, they're not actually thinking about these concepts, they're just generating until they see something they like.

Then, we have meetings where we will ask a basic but specific question about what they want us to make, and we're just met with blank stares. They have no answers, because they've never actually thought about it.

And then everyone else needs to do the thinking for them.

[neonstatic]

This reminds me of what's happened back in the early days of Google Translate. Lots of folks would bring very low quality automatic translations "for correction" only. For many it was a way to get a lower price since in their minds it was cheaper to correct something that is "largely done" rather than do the work from scratch. Oh how wrong they were, haha.

[whattheheckheck]

They're staring at you because you they're paying you to figure it out and youre asking them again

[yunnpp]

Precisely. I'm not an artist but have worked with some, and I do so with the basic assumption that the artist knows their shit and knows better than me. This client basically made a draft (or think they did) and asked you to fill the gaps, then went blank wondering how is it you're such a noob you can't even do your job. I'd honestly tell them to piss off and find better people to work with/for.

[Balinares]

Going ahead without asking is a sure recipe for having the client tell you "Sorry, that's not at all what I want" and then having to start over again. Your creatives ask questions for a reason. What is it that made you pick this specific draft out of the slop pile as a good match for your brand? The color scheme? The composition? The atmosphere? The line art style? If you expect your creatives to just magically guess, and then get frustrated when the output is not what you had in mind, then it's hardly your creatives' fault.

[rcxdude]

Yup, people aren't mind-readers. And it can be very hard to predict what bits the client cares about and what they don't, so it's worth biasing towards asking (though I think it's worth emphasizing that 'I don't care, you choose' is a valid response). The worst clients are the ones who can't express what they want in the first place and then reject output without explaining what it is they did or didn't like about the result.

That said, it can be very hard to be a good client. Writing requirements (whether for art or engineering) is something that on average, people are very bad at. And often you will only find out you cared about something after you see it (oh god I am so bad at this, especially because it's often delayed, so I will go 'looks good, no notes', then like a day later go 'oh wait, actually...'), which is why having a healthy dialogue and rapid feedback loop is so valuable to any project.