Updated
Updated · Inc. · Jul 10
Fed Taps Xbox CEO Who Cut 3,600 Jobs to Lead Employment Task Force
Updated
Updated · Inc. · Jul 10

Fed Taps Xbox CEO Who Cut 3,600 Jobs to Lead Employment Task Force

3 articles · Updated · Inc. · Jul 10

Summary

  • Asha Sharma’s appointment to the Federal Reserve’s new Productivity and Jobs task force drew immediate backlash because it came the same week she disclosed plans to eliminate 3,600 Xbox jobs by end-2027.
  • The Fed said the panel will support its “maximum employment” mandate by studying how new general-purpose technologies, especially artificial intelligence, affect the economy and monetary-policy decisions.
  • Sharma joins Marc Andreessen and Stanford economist Charles I. Jones as external co-leaders of one of five new Fed task forces, alongside groups on communications, balance-sheet policy, data and inflation frameworks.
  • Kevin Warsh said the task forces are meant to update the Fed’s tools for a rapidly changing economy, underscoring how AI has become central to the central bank’s policy review.

Insights

Could Kevin Warsh’s new task forces actually transform how the Fed sets policy in an era of AI-driven productivity and persistent inflation?
How might the Fed’s quest for independence hold up as technology, politics, and economic uncertainty all collide under Warsh’s leadership?
If AI is boosting productivity, why hasn’t the Fed’s inflation challenge eased—and could new data approaches finally close this gap?