Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has a new role outside gaming. On July 9, the US Federal Reserve named her one of three advisors on its new Productivity and Jobs task force, part of five groups the central bank set up to sharpen how it conducts monetary policy. Her task force will assess how new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, affect the economy.
The appointment is notable on its own, given the unmissable timing, drawing more attention as it is. Days earlier, Sharma announced an Xbox restructuring that will cut roughly 3,200 jobs across Microsoft’s gaming division. Here is what the role involves, why she was chosen, and why the juxtaposition has landed the way it has.
What Asha Sharma’s Appointment Actually Is
The Federal Reserve announced five task forces on July 9, each co-led by external advisors the Fed describes as accomplished economists, business leaders, and former central bank practitioners. The five cover Communications, Balance Sheet Policy, Data, Inflation Frameworks, and Productivity and Jobs.
Sharma is one of three advisors on the Productivity and Jobs group. According to the Fed, that task force will assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve’s policy judgments. The groups operate independently, supported by Fed staff, with a mandate to follow the evidence and produce findings for the Federal Open Market Committee.
Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh framed the effort as a response to a changing economy. He said the central bank’s commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering, and that each task force will examine whether the Fed’s tools and methods can be improved. How the individual appointments were made was not detailed.
Why Was Xbox CEO Chosen As Advisor
The logic behind the pick is AI, not gaming. Before becoming Xbox CEO in February, Sharma was president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product group. She also spent time at Meta, working on Messenger and Instagram Direct, and came up through the startup world at Instacart.
OFICIAL ✅️ Movimiento corporativo sin precedentes en la industria.
— eXtas1s 🎮 Noticias & Rumores (@eXtas1stv) July 9, 2026
La nueva CEO de Xbox, Asha Sharma, acaba de ser nombrada asesora oficial de la Reserva Federal de los Estados Unidos (la Fed) en materia de "Empleo y Productividad".
Los detalles de este nombramiento cruzan… pic.twitter.com/CEThMm4O8E
That AI background is almost certainly what caught the Fed’s attention. The Productivity and Jobs task force is specifically studying how technologies like AI reshape employment and output, and Sharma’s CoreAI experience maps directly onto that question. Notably, she is the only sitting CEO among the full list of advisors, which otherwise leans toward professors and former executives and officials.
Why the Timing Has Drawn Attention
This development is crucial as Sharma was appointed to advise on employment just days after announcing one of the largest workforce reductions in Xbox history.
The Xbox reset she is leading will cut roughly 3,200 jobs across the gaming division through the end of the 2027 fiscal year. The company has also divested from five studios, including Arkane, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine. In a staff memo, Sharma said some parts of the company had work passing through as many as 14 layers of management, and that platform teams had grown 40% larger even as playtime declined. Her stated goal is to simplify.
Advising a federal task force on jobs and productivity while executing mass layoffs is a contrast that has not gone unnoticed. The task force studies the economic impact of technology on employment at a national level, which is a different exercise from managing headcount at one company. Also, the two are not in literal conflict, but the optics of the pairing are what has driven the reaction.
You may also like to read – Gamers Strike Back With Don’t Kill the Disc Petition to Save PlayStation Discs
