Xbox CEO Will Advise Federal Reserve On Jobs After Mass Layoffs

The Federal Reserve has unveiled a new slate of task forces, each staffed by leading private‑sector executives, to inject fresh perspectives into its analysis of today’s economic landscape.

Among the appointees is Xbox chief executive Asha Sharma, who will advise the Fed on the nexus of employment, productivity and the accelerating influence of artificial intelligence. Her appointment follows a recent announcement of roughly 3,200 layoffs slated for Microsoft’s gaming division over the next year.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh emphasized the institution’s unwavering commitment to price stability and maximum employment, noting that the U.S. economy has evolved dramatically over the past generation and that the new task forces will rigorously evaluate whether current tools and approaches can be improved.

The task force will specifically assess the economic ramifications of emerging general‑purpose technologies, including AI, to inform the Fed’s policy decisions. Sharma will collaborate with Stanford economist Charles I. Jones, who works with AI firm Anthropic, and venture‑capital icon Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz.

Andreessen, famed for co‑founding early web browsers and now a prominent venture capitalist, brings a seasoned perspective on technology’s transformative potential—an angle the Fed hopes will enrich its understanding of future economic dynamics.

Sharma, a former startup veteran who cut her teeth at Instacart and Meta before joining Microsoft’s Core AI team, was transferred to Xbox earlier this year with a mandate to revitalize a division in distress. Her swift actions have triggered sweeping layoffs, even affecting long‑time senior executives across the Xbox ecosystem and its studios.

In a recent memo, Sharma emphasized that “great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger.” She pointed out that some parts of the company still route work through as many as fourteen layers of management, and that platform teams have grown forty percent larger since the start of this generation, all while player engagement has fallen. “That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify,” she wrote.