Xbox CEO joins Fed AI jobs task force after cuts

The Federal Reserve named Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, to its Productivity and Jobs task force to study how general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, affect productivity and employment.

The group will assemble outside experts in economics, business and central banking as part of a broader review of the Fed’s approach to monetary policy.

Sharma will serve on the panel alongside venture capital co-founder Marc Andreessen and Stanford economist Charles I. Jones.

Her appointment comes days after she informed Xbox employees that the division would undergo the “most significant restructure in Xbox history,” cutting about 3,200 roles through fiscal 2027. The reductions start with roughly 1,600 immediate job eliminations and include four studios moving out of Xbox to new management.

In an internal letter, Sharma described Xbox’s business as “not healthy,” citing lower margins than comparable platform and publishing businesses, a smaller next-generation console install base and rising costs. She wrote that investments in Game Pass, multi-platform releases and a broader content slate created value but did not grow as expected and concluded, “We must reset Xbox.”

Before joining Xbox, Sharma worked in Microsoft’s Core AI group.

The Fed organized five task forces covering productivity and jobs, communications, balance sheet policy, economic data and inflation frameworks. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh described the U.S. economy as “changed significantly” and noted the groups will consider whether policymakers’ tools and analytical methods can be improved.

The appointment coincides with other technology-industry workforce changes linked to AI investments. In recent months, Snap reduced its headcount by about 1,000 positions and Meta announced plans to cut roughly 8,000 roles as it shifts resources toward AI-driven products and efficiencies.

State and federal bodies are monitoring potential labor-market effects. California launched an AI unemployment tracker in June. A Federal Reserve study earlier this year found U.S. programming job growth slowed after the launch of ChatGPT, estimating roughly 500,000 developer roles that might otherwise have been created were not filled.

The Productivity and Jobs task force will examine how technologies such as AI influence productivity, employment patterns and the broader economy. Its findings will inform the Fed’s review of how it measures and responds to changes in productivity and the labor market.