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Ex-Treasury chief the Harvard professor is exiting the governing body at the ChatGPT creator, just a week after a series of electronic messages between him and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became widely known.

Summers commented in a release that he was "grateful for the opportunity to have contributed, excited about the prospects of the enterprise, and anticipate following their advancement".

Summers, who once headed the Ivy League institution, announced on Monday that he would be withdrawing from public commitments due to his association with Epstein.

Email Communications

The newly public emails showed that Summers communicated with Jeffrey Epstein until the eve of his 2019 detention for alleged sex trafficking of young people.

In a separate statement, the AI firm stated it respected the economist's decision to step down.

"We value his significant contributions and the perspective he provided to the Board," OpenAI stated.

Congressional Action

This news follows after both chambers of Congress decided on Tuesday to endorse a legislation that would require the federal prosecutors to release its records on Jeffrey Epstein.

The bill will then move to the administration of the White House for approval. He has indicated he intends to endorse the bill, after modifying his position on the matter following pushback from his base.

Message Details

A batch of Epstein-related correspondence made public by the House Oversight Committee last week included numerous prominent individuals in the financier's former circle, without indicating any criminal activity by those individuals.

The emails indicated that Summers and the financier often met for meals, with he often seeking to introduce Summers to influential world leaders.

Personal Response

After the emails were shared with the public, he said he took "full responsibility for my ill-advised choice to continue communicating with Jeffrey Epstein".

He further stated that he wanted "to restore confidence and mend connections with the persons nearest to me".

Professional History

The professor occupied senior posts under party leaders; functioning as treasury secretary under the former president, and as director of the economic advisory body under President Obama.

He led Harvard from the early 2000s and continues to be a professor there. When announcing his departure from public commitments earlier on this week, he indicated he would maintain his teaching commitments.

Other Impacts

Following his statement on earlier this week, the Center for American Progress, a progressive research organization in the capital where he was a researcher, announced that the economist was no longer connected with the group.

The former official became part of the board of OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, in 2023 - following a failed attempt to oust its top executive the company leader.