In short
- The Federal Reserve named Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to a panel studying AI’s impact on jobs and productivity.
- Sharma joins Marc Andreessen and Stanford economist Charles I. Jones on the Productivity and Jobs panel.
- The appointment follows Xbox’s announcement that it will cut 3,200 titles as part of a major overhaul.
Days after announcing the biggest overhaul in Xbox history, CEO Asha Sharma joined a Federal Reserve panel examining how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies could revolutionize jobs, productivity, and the economy.
Thursday, the Federal Reserve he said that Sharma will work on his Productivity and Jobs project, which will study the economic impact of new technologies, including AI, as part of the central bank’s approach to finance.
Sharma, who previously worked in Microsoft’s Core AI team before taking over Xbox, will join Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, Stanford University economics professor on leave at Anthropic.
“The US economy has changed dramatically over the past generation, and it has never happened more than now,” Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said. “Each group carefully examines whether policymakers’ methods and strategies, analytical tools and processes can be improved.”
According to the Fed, the five task forces will bring together foreign experts in finance, trade, and central banking to review the central bank’s monetary policy. In addition to productivity and employment, the teams will review Fed communications, banking policy, economic data, and inflation.
The appointment comes as Sharma oversees what he called “the most significant restructuring in Xbox history,” with plans to reduce the group’s workforce by about 3,200 employees through FY27. The cuts begin with the removal of 1,600 titles, with four studios leaving Xbox to focus on new content.
In a letter to employees earlier this week, Sharma said the Xbox business was “not healthy,” citing lower margins than comparable platforms and publishing businesses, the smaller footprint of the Gen 9 console, and higher costs.
“I know this is painful. These changes will affect people who have used their skills to build XBOX,” he wrote. “Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were hired here, or sought us out because they love this business and love XBOX. Today’s decisions do not reflect their talent or commitment.”
Sharma said that Xbox’s investments in Game Pass, multi-platform releases, and increased content generated profits but did not grow as quickly as expected. As the business grew, he said Xbox added more teams and revenue while its core business weakened.
“We need to reset Xbox,” Sharma wrote.
Sharma’s appointment comes amid growing scrutiny of how AI is reshaping the workforce as tech companies invest heavily in automation while restructuring teams. In April, Snap cut approx 1,000 jobsabout 16% of its workforce, as it expanded its focus on AI-powered tools, while Meta has also announced that it will reduce the number of people by 10%, around. 8,000 jobsas CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pushing the company deeper into artificial intelligence.
In June, California he started AI unemployment tracker to show if automation is contributing to job losses, while Federal Reserve learning Earlier this year, US job growth slowed significantly following the implementation of ChatGPT, estimating that nearly 500,000 potential developer jobs went unfilled.
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