Xbox names AI executive Asha Sharma after Spencer and Bond resignations as birthrate remarks spark scrutiny
Feb 23rd 2026
After Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond left Xbox last week, Microsoft promoted Asha Sharma, an executive with an AI background, and a resurfaced podcast where she linked AI to fertility trends has raised questions about her fit to lead gaming.
- Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond resigned from Xbox last week and Microsoft has installed Asha Sharma as the new head of Xbox.
- Sharma is best known for work in artificial intelligence rather than a track record in gaming operations or studios.
- A five-month-old podcast resurfaced in which Sharma said she worries whether her son "will have classmates" and suggested AI could affect fertility outcomes.
- Sharma cited examples such as AI-assisted IVF and medical uses of large language models, but those examples do not prove AI is a primary driver of birthrate changes.
- Her claimed historical fertility numbers are inaccurate; US fertility in the 1990s averaged about 1.9 to 2.0 births per woman, not 3, and it fell after 2008 before partially recovering.
- Demographers point to economic factors, affordability, wages, and social policy as the main drivers of lower birthrates, and critics say big tech should focus on those issues rather than framing AI as the cause.