# Democrats stump for labor representation on Fed’s AI task force > Source: > Published: 2026-08-24 20:00:07+00:00 # Democrats stump for labor representation on Fed’s AI task force The Federal Reserve’s recently launched AI task force on jobs and productivity is missing a critical component, according to Senate Banking Committee Democrats: insights from actual American workers. In a [letter](https://www.warnock.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Letter-to-Chair-Warsh-on-the-Task-Force-on-Productivity-and-Jobs.pdf) sent last week to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, the lawmakers demanded the inclusion of “worker perspectives” on the [task force](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/productivity-and-jobs-task-force.htm), which is made up of Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm, Asha Sharma, executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft-owned Xbox, and Charles I. Jones, an Anthropic Institute researcher on leave from his role as a Stanford economics professor. “We welcome the Fed evaluating AI’s effects on productivity and jobs, but it is important that the Fed search outside of industry when appointing alternative, diverse viewpoints for this new task force,” said the letter, which was led by Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. During a [hearing](https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/07/08/2026/the-semiannual-monetary-policy-report-to-the-congress) before the Senate Banking Committee last month, Warsh was pressed by Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., about the lack of a true labor viewpoint on the task force, asking if there was “somebody who can bring the perspective of an employer rather than an investor.” The Fed chair said it was a “fair question” but the trio were among “the smartest people” he knew, and their input would purely be used as recommendations rather than actual policy directives. “We’re the ones that have the dual mandate,” Warsh told Smith, referring to the Fed’s goal of achieving maximum employment and stable prices. “We haven’t outsourced this decision to three people; what we’ve outsourced to is a bunch of thinking about this massive technology shock.” The new letter — which was also signed by Senate Banking Democrats Andy Kim of New Jersey, Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Jack Reed of Rhode Island — indicated that the lawmakers weren’t satisfied with Warsh’s responses to that line of questioning. The letter specifically noted the “direct financial ties to the AI industry” that all three task force members have. Those “potential conflicts” also undercut Warsh’s previously stated preference for task forces that have legitimate “divergence of views.” More viewpoints, the lawmakers argued, would generate “stronger conclusions” and “improved policymaking.” “AI’s potential to reshape work is significant, and the stakes for workers are high: even a partial shift in how tasks are automated could affect millions of jobs across the economy, and workers have the necessary first-hand accounting of how AI is currently reshaping day-to-day tasks,” they wrote. “A task force asked to assess AI’s real economic impact on the labor force and the Fed’s mandate to promote maximum employment cannot do so accurately while excluding the very people best positioned to describe how that impact is unfolding: American workers,” they added. The Democrats didn’t ask the Fed chair to respond to their letter but said they looked forward to “continued engagement on this issue.” They also reiterated their call to Warsh to “add individuals with no financial ties to the … AI industry and who represent the perspective of workers to this task force before it begins issuing recommendations to the Fed.” The Fed didn’t respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. In his brief tenure leading the central bank, Warsh has been bullish about AI’s impact on the economy. He [told lawmakers](https://fedscoop.com/federal-reserve-chair-kevin-warsh-ai-jobs-impact/) on the House Financial Services Committee last month that the technology “hasn’t displaced workers” so far and it has boosted productivity. Embracing AI should result in the U.S. becoming “richer” and “more productive,” Warsh said at the time, adding that the country is “at the forefront of these technologies” and “likely to be a big winner.”