The US Federal Reserve has announced new task forces for advancing monetary policy. Led by chairman Kevin Warsh, the list of advisors for each task force includes Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
“The Federal Reserve’s commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor,” writes Chairman Kevin Warsh in a press release. “The U.S. economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now. Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers’ means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon. I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution. The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time.”
The five task forces are Communications, Balance Sheet Policy, Data, Productivity and Jobs, and Inflation Frameworks. Each will be co-led by external advisors “with deep expertise in their fields.” Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been named as one of three advisors for the Productivity and Jobs task force, which aims to “assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve’s policy judgments.”
Sharma was president of Microsoft’s CoreAI before becoming CEO of Xbox, which undoubtedly led to the role of providing expertise on the economic impact of AI. Notably, Sharma is also the only active CEO among the entire list of advisors, which largely includes professors and former business leaders/politicians.
Sharma was appointed Xbox CEO in February following the departures of former heads Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond. Among other moves, such as revealing new details of the next Xbox console, codename Project Helix, Sharma’s biggest initiative to date is a massive restructuring of Xbox that began this week, which will result in over 3,000 layoffs across each game division. The company has also divested from five development studios: Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, and Arkane Studios.
