Opera Compares AI Revolution to Industrial Era Machine Breaking

TL;DR:

  • New opera The Last Machine Breaker draws parallels between AI emergence and the Industrial Revolution’s impact on West Yorkshire communities
  • Created by Huddersfield composer Ben Crick, the production tours Yorkshire in November as part of Bradford Opera Festival
  • Set across two timelines (1813 and 2030), the work explores how societies respond when technology disrupts labour markets

A new opera touring Yorkshire next month will explore the parallels between artificial intelligence and the technological upheaval experienced during the Industrial Revolution. The Last Machine Breaker, by Huddersfield-born composer Ben Crick, premieres as part of the Bradford Opera Festival with performances across the region.

Context and Background

The production tells parallel stories set in 1813 and 2030, examining how communities respond when rapid technological advancement threatens livelihoods. Crick, known for telling Northern stories through opera, described the project as his “most personal to date”, drawing explicit connections between the Luddite movement of 1812 and contemporary AI concerns.

The opera will perform in Bradford, Leeds, Skipton, and Marsden—the latter considered the birthplace of the Luddites, the 19th-century mill workers who opposed new machinery fearing unemployment and reduced wages. “These questions have been asked here in West Yorkshire 200 years back, so what can we learn from the history of the North that might help us today?” Crick said.

Looking Forward

The production arrives as debates intensify about AI’s impact on employment and social structures. By staging the work in locations central to the Luddite movement, Crick positions West Yorkshire’s historical experience as a lens through which to examine contemporary technological disruption. The composer noted he has been developing the concept for five years, anticipating the “great challenges when there’s massive technological advancement in quite a short period of time”.

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