Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, advises the US Federal Reserve on productivity, employment and the impact of AI

The Spanish gaming community found out on the night of July 9, 2026 when LevelUp.com published on X that Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, had been appointed advisor to the United States Federal Reserve. The directive will help assess the economic impact of new technologies, including artificial intelligence.

«BOMBAZAZAZZO 💥 #AshaSharma, CEO of #XBOX, has been appointed advisor to the United States Federal Reserve. The directive will help assess the economic impact of new technologies, including the impact of AI."

The news was not only born on networks: hours before the Federal Reserve published an official statement announcing the leadership and objectives of five task forces created "to advance the conduct of monetary policy." Among the external advisors of the Productivity and Jobs group is Sharma as "executive vice president and Xbox CEO, Microsoft Corp."

What the “Productivity and Jobs” task force will do

According to the Fed statement, this team will examine "the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments" — that is, how AI and other cross-cutting technologies affect productivity, employment and, ultimately, the central bank's decisions on interest rates and maximum employment mandate with price stability.

The task forces will operate independently, with a mandate to “follow the evidence, offer candid advice and produce rigorous analysis” for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), supported by the institution's internal staff.

Who is Asha Sharma and why the Fed chose her

Sharma replaced Phil Spencer at the head of Xbox in February 2026, after the departure of Sarah Bond. She previously served as product president of CoreAI at Microsoft — the company's artificial intelligence arm — and held product roles at Meta (Messenger and Instagram Direct), according to Video Games Chronicle e IGN.

VGC highlights a striking fact: Sharma is the only active CEO named among all the advisors of the five task forces. The rest of the list combines academics, former executives and investors — for example, former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon advises the Data group.

In the productivity task force he shares a table with Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, professor of economics at Stanford currently "on leave" at Anthropic, according to The Verge. Three very different profiles — gaming/corporate AI, venture capital and academic economics applied to language models — converge on the same question: how do new technologies measure growth and the labor market?

Timing: Xbox restructuring and employment debate

The appointment coincides with one of Xbox's toughest weeks in years. IGN and Game Informer recall that Sharma announced a restructuring with 1,600 immediate layoffs and others 1,600 cuts expected throughout the fiscal year, in addition to studios abandoning Microsoft and canceled projects.

This paradox did not go unnoticed in the specialized press: the same executive who cuts thousands of positions in gaming now advises the central bank on productivity and employment in the age of AI. The Verge puts it bluntly in the headline: Sharma, who announced massive layoffs at Xbox this week, will assess the impact economic of technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Microsoft is one of the big technology companies most invested in AI — Copilot, Azure OpenAI, CoreAI — and Xbox is part of that ecosystem. Sharma's experience in AI products and in a margin-pressured entertainment division fits the task force's mandate, although the political and media contrast is inevitable.

The other four Fed task forces

The July 9 statement details the complete map of the internal reform promoted by Kevin Warsh:

• Communications — how the Fed communicates its decisions to the public and markets.
• Balance Sheet Policy — balance sheet policy and unconventional tools.
• Data — quality and use of data for monetary policy (advisor: Doug McMillon).
• Productivity and Jobs — general technologies and AI (advisors: Andreessen, Jones, Sharma).
• Inflation Frameworks — inflation analytical frameworks.

Warsh stated that “the US economy has changed significantly in the last generation, and never more than now,” and that the goal is to “ensure that the Fed is best positioned to meet its objectives at this consequential moment.”

What it means for Xbox and the industry

The position is an external advisor, not an executive position within the government. Sharma will continue to lead Xbox while collaborating with the task force. Still, the symbolism is strong: the video game industry — historically on the fringes of the formal macroeconomy — enters the US monetary policy conversation at a time when AI is redefining productivity, automation and creative employment.

For readers of MARGENEZ, the practical reading is twofold. On the one hand, it confirms that Microsoft/Xbox wants weight in the regulatory and economic debate of AI, not only in consoles and Game Pass. On the other, it places Sharma in the global media spotlight beyond Project Helix and the internal cuts — with the scrutiny that entails.

Update (July 9, 2026): News based on the alert from LevelUp.com on X, confirmed by the official statement from the Federal Reserve, IGN, VGC, The Verge and Game Informer.