A [40 MARKS] QUESTION 1 Study the article provided below and on the basis of the motivation for a new study, and answer ALL the questions in this section. IBM to Pause Hiring for Jobs That AI Could Do Roughly 7,800 IBM jobs could be replaced by AI, automation CEO Krishna says IBM to pause hiring for replaceable roles Arvind Krishna during an interview in New York on May 1. Photographer: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg Brody Ford May 1, 2023 International Business Machines Corp. Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said the company expects to pause hiring for roles it thinks could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the coming years. Hiring in back-office functions such as human resources will be suspended or slowed, Krishna said in an interview. These non-customer-facing roles amount to roughly 26,000 workers, Krishna said. I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period. That would mean roughly 7,800 jobs lost. Part of any reduction would include not replacing roles vacated by attrition, an IBM spokesperson said. As artificial intelligence tools have captured the public imagination for their ability to automate customer service, write text and generate code, many observers have worried about their potential to disrupt the labour market. Krishnas plan marks one of the largest workforce strategies announced in response to the rapidly advancing technology. More mundane tasks such as providing employment verification letters or moving employees between departments will likely be fully automated, Krishna said. Some HR functions, such as evaluating workforce composition and productivity, probably wont be replaced over the next decade, he added. IBM currently employs about 260,000 workers and continues to hire for software development and customer-facing roles. Finding talent is easier today than a year ago, Krishna said. The company announced job cuts earlier this year, which may amount to about 5,000 workers once completed. Still, Krishna said IBM has added to its workforce overall, bringing on about 7,000 people in the first quarter. Krishna, who has been CEO since 2020, has worked to focus the century-old company around software and services such as hybrid cloud. He has divested lower-growth businesses like managed infrastructure unit Kyndryl Inc. and part of the Watson Health business. The company is currently considering selling its weather unit. Armonk, New York-based IBM topped profit estimates in its most recent quarter due to expense management, including the earlier-announced job cuts. New productivity and efficiency steps are expected to drive $2 billion a year in savings by the end of 2024, Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh said on the day of earnings. Until late 2022, Krishna said he believed the U.S. could avoid a recession. Now, he sees the potential for a shallow and short recession toward the end of this year. Though the companys strong software portfolio, including acquired unit Red Hat, should help it maintain steady growth despite worsening macroeconomic concerns, wrote Bloomberg Intelligences Anurag Rana last week. Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/ibm-to-pause-hiring-for-jobs-that-ai-could-do/ A Motivation For A New Study The recent announcement by Mr Arvind Krishna, the Chief Executive Officer of IBM, that the company expects to pause hiring for roles it thinks could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the coming years, has sent shock waves throughout the world, providing us with a glimpse of the disruptions that AI is likely to unleash in the world of business. Recent developments have mainstreamed the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), demonstrating the inevitability of digital systems surpassing human intelligence as we accelerate towards the culmination of Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Automation, Big Data, and other digital Innovations. The idea of a world in which AI grows sufficiently powerful as to be superintelligentoperating far beyond anything now foreseeable is no longer far-fetched. In a recent imaginative piece titled What would humans do in a world of super-AI?, which featured in the 23rd May 2023 edition of The Economist as a thought experiment of what human beings will be left doing should AI take over everything else we do now, the main argument was that the advancement of robotics could indeed enable AI to replace all human activities. A few weeks before IBMs announcement, OpenAIs ChatGPT was launched which captivated the publics attention on generative AI and supercharged the race to dominate the technology. The AI-powered chatbot a software programmed to simulate human conversation was made available to the public on November 30 via OpenAIs website, and while it is still in the research review phase, users can sign up and test it out free of charge. Similar technologies are being developed by Google, Microsoft, AI startup Anthropic and undoubtedly other firms elsewhere in the world. In another recent development, Googles pioneering scientist dubbed the Godfather of artificial intelligence Geoffrey Hinton, who has been a significant contributor to the development of AI, has left the technology giant to warn the world of the existential risk posed by AI systems to humans. In a recent article which featured in the New York Times on 4 May 2023 titled White House pushes tech CEOs to limit risks of AI, McCabe (2023), reported about rising questions and calls to regulate the rapidly advancing technology. In the EU, China and the U.S., there are calls for regulations to govern a broader range of AI tools. AI is projected to cause significant structural changes to global competition and economic growth. With the potential to generate trillions of dollars in new value over the next decade, there is a risk that this value will not be easily captured or evenly distributed across nations. Participating in the value generated by AI will depend on how governments and industries invest in the underlying computational infrastructure that makes AI possible. As a researcher with a keen interest in the disruptive impact of digital technologies on business and society, you seek to unpack current AI-related intentions of South African businesses for competitive advantage. Accordingly, you are proposing a study with the aim of investigating the strategic intentions of JSE-listed technology companies to leverage artificial intelligence for competitive advantage. With a positivist paradigm in mind, your study will seek to answer the following research questions: 1. What are the levels of investment or intended investment by JSE-listed technology companies in the underlying computational infrastructure that makes artificial intelligence possible? 2. What roles and functions currently performed by humans are likely to be replaced with artificial intelligence by JSE-listed technology companies in the coming years? 3. What actions are being developed by JSE-listed technology companies to mitigate emerging risks in current and nearterm AI development? 4. What recommendations can be made to the management of JSE-listed technology companies on how best to benefit from advances in AI while protecting society from its harms? REQUIRED: Please outline how you would go about conducting the proposed study by answering the following questions. 1.1.Based on the aim prescribed for the proposed study, formulate a suitable title for the study. (4 marks) 1.2.Formulate a clear and well-articulated problem statement for the proposed study. The problem statement should be approximately 100 150 words. (5 marks) 1.3.Formulate the FOUR (4) research objectives that the proposed study seeks to achieve. (4 marks) 1.4.Based on the phrase: With a positivist paradigm in mind., propose and discuss an appropriate research design for the proposed study. As part of your discussion, please provide a rationale for proposing this particular research design. (5 marks) 1.5. Based on your proposed design, discuss the methodology you would follow by answering the following questions: 1.5.1.Sampling Methodology: 1.5.1.1.Identify the target population for the study and briefly discuss whether you would use a probability or nonprobability sampling approach. (4 marks) 1.5.1.2. Elaborate on the method(s) of sampling that you would use in the study, justifying its propriety for the study. (5 marks) 1.5.2.Method of Data Collection 1.5.2.1.Propose a data collection instrument(s) and or method(s) for the study and provide a rationale for proposing the data collection method. (5 marks) 1.5.3.Method of Data Analysis 1.5.3.1.Briefly discuss the method(s) of data analysis you would use in this study (note: please specify and justify the method(s) of analysis you would employ for the research questions formulated in 1.3). (8 marks)