Xbox CEO Asha Sharma joins Federal Reserve task force on AI and jobs
Xbox executive Asha Sharma has joined the US Federal Reserve’s new AI and jobs task force, which will study how artificial intelligence could reshape employment, productivity, and monetary policymaking.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma
Microsoft executive and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been appointed to a new Federal Reserve task force that will examine how artificial intelligence and other general-purpose technologies are reshaping productivity and employment in the US economy.The announcement came as part of the Federal Reserve’s broader initiative to establish five independent task forces that will review different aspects of monetary policy. The AI-focused group will assess how rapid technological advances should inform the central bank’s policy decisions in the years ahead.According to the Federal Reserve, the Productivity and Jobs task force will evaluate the economic impact of emerging technologies, including AI, with the objective of improving the data and analysis used in monetary policymaking.Sharma joins economists and technology leadersSharma will serve alongside Marc Andreessen, cofounder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, professor of economics at Stanford University who is currently on leave at AI company Anthropic.The combination of technology executives, investors and economists reflects the Federal Reserve’s effort to bring perspectives from multiple disciplines as AI adoption accelerates across industries.The central bank said each task force will operate independently while being supported by Federal Reserve staff. Their findings will be submitted to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets US monetary policy.Fed says economy is changing rapidlyAnnouncing the initiative, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said the US economy has changed significantly over the past generation, “and never more so than right now.” He said the task forces will evaluate whether the Fed’s analytical tools, policy approaches and decision-making frameworks can be improved to better fulfill its mandate of price stability and maximum employment.Besides the AI and jobs panel, the Federal Reserve also created task forces focused on communications, balance sheet policy, economic data and inflation frameworks.The central bank said more information about the task forces and their work will be published periodically on its website as the reviews progress. Sharma’s appointment places a senior Microsoft gaming executive among a select group of global experts tasked with helping shape the research that could influence future US monetary policy discussions around AI, productivity and the labour market.