The United States Federal Reserve has appointed Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, to co-lead its Productivity and Jobs task force. This initiative is part of five task forces established to explore key areas influencing monetary policy. Sharma will work alongside Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, an economics professor from Stanford University currently at AI firm Anthropic. The focus of this task force is to evaluate the economic impact of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to guide the Federal Reserve’s policy decisions. Sharma’s appointment comes in the wake of significant layoffs at Xbox, with 3,200 jobs set to be cut by 2027, affecting studios like ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda Game Studios. Despite these changes, Sharma emphasizes a future of growth for Xbox, highlighting increased investment with a strategic focus. Since becoming Xbox CEO, Sharma has made several strategic changes, including leadership restructuring, discontinuing Gaming Copilot, reducing Game Pass prices, and rebranding Microsoft Gaming as Xbox.

