Xbox CEO Asha Sharma joins Federal Reserve jobs task force days after announcing 3,200 layoffs

Days after announcing mass layoffs, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma tapped to advise the Federal Reserve on jobs - Engadget

The US Federal Reserve has announced the industry leaders who will head up its various task forces guiding monetary policies. The country's central bank has made some baffling appointments to its productivity and jobs team, which will "Assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments." One of the advisors will be new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. After moving to gaming from Microsoft's Core AI group, in the first few months of her tenure, she's overseen yet another price hike for the gaming hardware and most recently announced to the company that it would be cutting 3,200 jobs across its studios. Microsoft has been gutting its staff across many divisions for awhile, so this isn't a new policy she's personally brought in. But the timing here could not be worse, especially as so much of the game industry is struggling to keep people employed and to figure out a responsible way to use AI. Joining her in this strange advisory trio are Marc Andreessen, who doesn't have the best track record on talking intelligently about AI, and Charles I. Jones, a Stanford University economics professor who is currently on leave to work at the Anthropic Institute. Jones aside, it's not necessarily the most reassuring group when it comes to being critical of artificial intelligence and the job market.

Federal Reserve taps Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to lead jobs task force days after Microsoft laid off 3,200 people

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. A hot potato: Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been chosen to co-lead a Federal Reserve task force examining productivity and employment. Somewhat ironically, her new advisory role comes only three days after Microsoft unveiled the largest restructuring in Xbox's history, which will eliminate 3,200 positions and immediately put 1,600 people out of work. The Productivity and Jobs panel is one of five new task forces created by Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh to examine areas central to monetary policy. The others will focus on communications, balance sheet policy, economic data, and inflation frameworks. Sharma will lead the group alongside Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen and Stanford economics professor Charles I. Jones, who is currently on leave at Anthropic. Its job is to assess how general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, are affecting productivity, employment, and economic growth, with the findings used to help inform future Federal Reserve policy. The groups will be supported by Federal Reserve staff but operate independently. They've been told to follow the evidence, provide candid feedback, and produce findings for the Federal Open Market Committee. Updates on their progress will be posted periodically. "The Federal Reserve's commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor. The US economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now," Warsh said. "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." Sharma's appointment is raising some eyebrows given what happened at Xbox last week. Microsoft plans to eliminate around 3,200 positions across its gaming division between now and July 2027, with 1,600 employees losing their jobs immediately. The restructuring also involves spinning off Compulsion Games and Double Fine, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are being sold. Bethesda, ZeniMax, id Software, Activision, Obsidian, and Microsoft's accessibility team are among the groups facing deep cuts. The panel will also examine AI's impact on jobs. Sharma has a lot of experience in this area, given that Microsoft has spent billions of dollars expanding its AI infrastructure while repeatedly reducing its workforce. It's just one of many tech companies cutting employees as more resources are redirected toward automation and data centers. Sharma moved from Microsoft's CoreAI division to become Xbox CEO earlier this year. In the first few months of her tenure, she has overseen another hardware price increase, falling Game Pass membership, and what Microsoft describes as the most significant restructuring in Xbox history. The Federal Reserve has not said when the task forces will publish their final findings, only that more information will appear on its website periodically.

The awkward timing of the Xbox CEO's new Federal Reserve gig

Which is worse, sailing your superyacht through the city where your company just made mass job cuts, or getting named to a U.S. Federal Reserve panel on jobs and productivity three days after announcing thousands of layoffs? It might not be a full Zuck, but Microsoft Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is getting lots of attention, and not in a good way, for the latter this week. Sharma was named Thursday to co-lead a new Federal Reserve "Productivity and Jobs" task force, charged with assessing the economic impact of AI and other new technologies on the labor market. Her co-leaders: Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist and vocal AI booster, and Stanford economist Charles I. Jones, who is currently on leave at Anthropic, maker of the Claude AI chatbot. The gaming press, as you can imagine, is having a field day. The headline from Kotaku sums it up: "Xbox CEO Will Advise Federal Reserve On Jobs After Mass Layoffs." PC Gamer, for its part, noted that the task force is supposed to represent a "commitment to price stability and maximum employment." However, that's the Fed's broad mandate, as described by Chairman Kevin Warsh. It's actually not the specific mission of the Productivity and Jobs task force, which is narrower: assessing what AI and other new technologies are doing to the economy. In a separate sign of the backlash, Microsoft communications chief Frank Shaw took to X on Friday to knock down claims that the Xbox cuts were made to replace employees with foreign workers, calling it "bad information" and noting that the H-1B visa figures being cited are company-wide renewals, not Xbox-specific. He also pointed out that Sharma is "an American born, raised, and educated CEO, from Wisconsin." Also lost in the coverage of the Fed appointment is the fact that Sharma is less than five months into the job, having taken over as Xbox CEO in February with a mandate to turn around and preserve a gaming division that spent more than $20 billion over five years while its core revenue shrank. The restructuring announced this week is a key part of that effort. What's more, it's hard to imagine that this is the timing Microsoft or Sharma wanted. Announcements like this are often outside the control of the participants. The Federal Reserve sets its own schedule. Still, it's tough timing for an executive who announced plans this week to cut 3,200 gaming jobs -- about 1,600 immediately, with the rest over the coming year -- amounting to roughly 20% of Xbox's workforce. Sharma herself called it the most significant restructuring in the division's history. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's superyacht Launchpad, for the record, is currently cruising the waters off Juneau, Alaska, a full 900 miles from Seattle.

Xbox CEO Joins Fed AI Jobs Task Force Days After Announcing 3,200 Layoffs

The appointment follows Xbox's announcement that it will cut 3,200 roles as part of a major restructuring. Days after announcing the largest restructuring in Xbox history, CEO Asha Sharma has joined a Federal Reserve task force examining how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies could reshape jobs, productivity, and the broader economy. On Thursday, the Federal Reserve said that Sharma will serve on its Productivity and Jobs task force, which will study the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including AI, as part of the central bank's approach to monetary policy. Sharma, who previously worked in Microsoft's Core AI group before taking over Xbox, joins Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, a Stanford University economics professor currently on leave at Anthropic. "The U.S. economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now," Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said. "Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers' means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon." According to the Fed, the five task forces will bring together outside experts in economics, business, and central banking to review how the central bank approaches monetary policy. In addition to productivity and jobs, the groups will examine Fed communications, balance sheet policy, economic data, and inflation frameworks. The appointment comes as Sharma oversees what she called the "most significant restructure in Xbox history," with plans to reduce the division's workforce by approximately 3,200 employees through FY27. The cuts begin with 1,600 role eliminations, while four studios will leave Xbox for new management. In a letter to employees earlier this week, Sharma said Xbox's business was "not healthy," citing lower margins than comparable platform and publishing businesses, a smaller Gen 9 console install base, and higher costs. "I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX," she wrote. "Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today's decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication." Sharma said Xbox's investments in Game Pass, multi-platform releases, and a broader content portfolio created value but did not grow as quickly as expected. As the business expanded, she said Xbox added more teams and investment while its core business weakened. "We must reset Xbox," Sharma wrote. Sharma's appointment comes amid growing scrutiny over how AI is reshaping the workforce as tech companies invest heavily in automation while restructuring teams. In April, Snap cut roughly 1,000 jobs, roughly 16% of its staff, as it increased its focus on AI-powered tools, while Meta has also said it would reduce headcount by 10%, around 8,000 jobs, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushes the company deeper into artificial intelligence. In June, California launched an AI unemployment tracker to monitor whether automation is contributing to job losses, while a Federal Reserve study earlier this year found U.S. programming job growth slowed significantly following the launch of ChatGPT, estimating that roughly 500,000 developer jobs that would have otherwise existed were never filled.

The Fed Just Tapped a CEO Cutting 3,600 Jobs to Lead Its 'Maximum Employment' Push

The Federal Reserve created a new task force to promote "maximum employment," but the announcement of the initiative's leader has drawn immediate outcry -- after all, the corporate executive just cut thousands of jobs at their company. The Productivity and Jobs task force head is Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who in the same week as the Fed's announcement of her appointment shared plans to lay off 3,600 employees at the video game company by the end of 2027, PC Mag reported. The move is raising eyebrows online, with one Redditor commenting, "How long was the gap between the layoffs and the task force appointment, because that timing couldn't have been better if they tried." The task force Sharma was appointed to is one of five recently implemented by the Federal Reserve, including: Communications, Balance Sheet Policy, Data, and Inflation Frameworks, according to a press release. Each task force will "examine monetary policy" with external co-leaders and Federal Reserve staff to "produce rigorous findings for the Federal Open Market Committee." Perhaps by appointing a CEO who oversaw a major workforce reduction, the task force plans to lean heavily into the "productivity" part of its title. The Fed notes that the Productivity and Jobs task force's priority is to, "assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments," the release says. The other professionals tapped for this particular task force suggest artificial intelligence is going to be a major priority in shaping policy. Joining Sharma on the Productivity and Jobs task force is Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz -- which invests heavily in AI and other tech companies -- and Charles I. Jones, a professor of economics at Stanford University, who's currently on leave at the Anthropic Institute working on the economics of AI. "The Federal Reserve's commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor," Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said in a press release. "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." Get 1 Smart Business Story delivered straight to your inbox when you subscribe to Inc.'s free daily newsletter.

Xbox CEO Will Advise Federal Reserve On Jobs After Mass Layoffs

The group will 'assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies' like AI The Federal Reserve has just announced a bunch of new task forces staffed by private sector leaders to help advise it on modern trends in the economy. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been named to one of those groups to help advise the U.S. Fed on "jobs and productivity," including how the emergence of AI technology is impacting them. Her new side gig was revealed just days after instituting roughly 3,200 layoffs that will roll out across Microsoft's gaming division over the next 12 months. "The Federal Reserve's commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor," Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said in a press release on July 9. "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. The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time." Sharma's task force has been asked to "assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments." She's not doing it alone, however. Working alongside her is Charles I. Jones, an economist at Stanford University who works with the AI company Anthropic, and venture capital ghoul Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz. You might know Andreessen as the cone-headed co-founder of early web browsers who has parlayed his Silicon Valley tech fortune into a venture capital fund that leaves him with plenty of time to go on podcasts and talk proudly about having "zero" introspection in his life. I'm so glad he now has the direct ear of the nation's central banking system. Sharma is also from the startup world, having worked at Instacart and Meta before joining Microsoft's Core AI group. She was moved over to Xbox earlier this year and has moved fast to try and turn around a struggling gaming division. The result has been brutal cuts across the organization, including to senior staff who have been at Xbox and its game studios for decades. "We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger," she told staff in a memo this week. Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify."

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma joins US Federal Reserve as adviser on AI for "productivity and jobs" taskforce

Sharma will be part of a taskforce to "assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence" Recently appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been tapped by the US government to advise the Federal Reserve on matters related to AI and its impact on the economy. Via press release published on an official government website, the Fed details five distinct taskforces, each co-led by a team of "external advisers" "with a mandate to follow the evidence, provide candid feedback, and produce rigorous findings for the Federal Open Market Committee." Essentially, the taskforces will advise the Federal Reserve on economic policy across five different categories: Communications, Balance Sheet Policy, Data, Inflation, and Productivity and Jobs, which is where Sharma has been assigned. The Fed says it chose "accomplished economists, business leaders, and former central bank practitioners -- with deep expertise in their fields," to head up the taskforces. Sharma's team will "assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments." Sharma is the only active CEO to join the taskforces, although former Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillion has been named adviser to the Federal Reserve on the data taskforce. This is a peculiar move for Sharma and Xbox for several reasons. For one, just this week Sharma herself wrote an email to employees announcing mass layoffs at Xbox that will result in 3,200 cut jobs by the end of the 2027 fiscal year amid a major "reset" for the brand which she'll be integral in spearheading. But perhaps even more chiefly, Sharma has been the CEO of one of the largest gaming companies in the world for just a few short months and she's been making big moves. It's surprising she has the time, much less the mental space, to help out the federal government with its economic policy. Before she was CEO at Xbox, Sharma was president of Microsoft's CoreAI product group, which is likely where she gained the experience that caught the Fed's attention.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Is Advising the Federal Reserve on the Economic Impact of AI as Part of a 'Productivity and Jobs' Taskforce

The Federal Reserve has called on Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to help it assess the economic impact of new technologies, including AI, as part of a 'Productivity and Jobs' taskforce. Sharma, who previously worked at Microsoft's Core AI group before replacing Phil Spencer as boss of the company's gaming business earlier this year, joins Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner, Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, professor of economics, Stanford University, currently on leave at Anthropic, on the taskforce. The announcement of Sharma's appointment to the task force comes just days after she began a restructure of the Xbox business, which included 1,600 staff losing their jobs on Monday, and another 1,600 to be cut over the course of the current financial year. Four Xbox studios have left Microsoft so far. Projects have been canceled, and iconic developers have been gutted. The impact of AI on tech jobs in particular is well-documented, and Microsoft itself is all in on AI. However one of Sharma's first moves as boss of Xbox was to kill Microsoft's AI tool Copilot for gaming. Still, she has said she believes in AI, pointing to neural rendering as benefiting video game graphics. Sharma did not specifically mention AI as part of her "Reset" memo, nor was it mentioned when she announced the Xbox layoffs earlier this week. Rather, Sharma's plan for Xbox appears to revolve around increased profit growth through a focus on the company's biggest franchises, such as Halo, Minecraft, Candy Crush, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls. Where this leaves smaller Xbox franchises remains to be seen. "We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger," Sharma said in her statement. "Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset Xbox, we will simplify. "We will reduce management layers to no more than five, and where possible, three. We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes. And we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend." "The Federal Reserve's commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor," said Chairman Kevin Warsh. "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. The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time." Image credit: Microsoft. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].