The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence has created a moment of transformational change in both society and our relationship to technology. As we find our way in this new world, RBO/SHIFT 2026 asks two questions: what can AI offer creatives, and what can creatives offer the world in the age of AI?

Opera is an art form that synthesizes all other art forms — music, song, visual arts, architecture, costume, poetry and drama. It occupies a unique position from which to explore, challenge and interrogate technology and innovation. Opera has always been a fusion of art and science: from 1600, when the latest advances in mechanics, spectacle, fireworks and visual illusion were celebrated on stage, through the arrival of electricity, film and digital media, to today, as we grapple with the possibilities, challenges, realities and unrealities of sophisticated machine learning.

Without fear or favour, the creatives, researchers and experts contributing to RBO/SHIFT offer a wide-ranging view of where we are today and where we may reach tomorrow: from artists who have spent decades thinking about and examining AI, to opera practitioners now beginning to explore new frontiers in the technology; from the creative possibilities to questions around ethics, bias, environment, law and access.

Art, music, and storytelling help us navigate our deepest fears and our greatest challenges. They allow us to imagine things that do not already exist and to think deeply about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is the future. But the future is already here.

– Netia Jones, Associate Director, The Royal Opera