Xbox CEO Asha Sharma named to Federal Reserve jobs and productivity task force
The Federal Reserve has appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to a task force evaluating how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, affect the economy.
The United States Federal Reserve has appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to serve as an advisor on a newly established task force focused on jobs and productivity. The appointment, confirmed by the Federal Reserve in a press release issued this week, places the gaming executive in a position to influence the central bank's understanding of economic shifts driven by emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. This initiative is part of a broader structural evaluation at the Federal Reserve, which has announced the creation of five distinct task forces to refine its internal operations and monetary policy approaches.
According to the Federal Reserve, the Productivity and Jobs task force, which includes Sharma, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, and Stanford University economics professor Charles I. Jones, is mandated to "assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments."
The group is also tasked to survey the pace, reach, and economic impact of these technologies to explore their implications for the institution's employment and inflation mandates.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh emphasized the need for modernizing the institution's analytical tools in a rapidly changing economy.
"The U.S. economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now. Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers' means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon. I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution."
Kevin Warsh, Chairman, via Federal Reserve
The announcement of Sharma’s appointment has drawn scrutiny due to concurrent events at Microsoft’s gaming division. As reported by multiple outlets this week, Sharma recently initiated a corporate restructuring of Xbox, which includes a total reduction of 3,200 employees by the end of the 2027 fiscal year. The restructuring process has also involved the transfer of several studios to independent status or new ownership.
Sharma’s background, particularly her prior leadership role within Microsoft’s Core AI division, is widely cited as the primary rationale for her inclusion in the task force. She is the only active CEO appointed to the newly announced Federal Reserve task forces. Beyond her current role, her career includes executive tenures at Instacart, Meta, and Porch.
Task Force Membership Overview
| Advisor | Background |
|---|---|
| Asha Sharma | CEO of Xbox; former head of Microsoft Core AI |
| Marc Andreessen | Venture capitalist; co-founder, Andreessen Horowitz |
| Charles I. Jones | Economics professor, Stanford; currently at Anthropic |
Internal documentation regarding the Xbox reorganization notes that the company plans to simplify management structures from as many as 14 layers down to three or five. The strategy aims to prioritize core franchises such as Halo, Minecraft, Candy Crush, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls, while reducing vendor spending and streamlining the company’s code base. The remaining 1,600 job cuts are scheduled to take place throughout the 2027 fiscal year. This organizational shift is occurring as the company prepares for future hardware initiatives, including a project referred to as Project Helix.
The Federal Reserve has stated that its five task forces will operate independently with a mandate to provide candid feedback and rigorous findings for the Federal Open Market Committee. The institution indicated that the activities and progress of these groups will be shared with the public via updates posted periodically on its official website. As the task force begins its tenure, its efficacy will be measured by its ability to provide actionable insights into the interplay between emerging general-purpose technologies and the central bank's core mandates of price stability and maximum employment.
