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Former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers is exiting the directorate at OpenAI, just a week after a collection of electronic messages between him and deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein became widely known.

The economist commented in a statement that he was "thankful for the privilege to have served, optimistic about the potential of the company, and anticipate tracking their development".

The former Harvard president, who formerly headed the prestigious university, declared on earlier this week that he would be withdrawing from public roles due to his connections with the convicted sex offender.

Message Exchange

The recently released messages demonstrated that Summers corresponded with Epstein until the day before the financier's 2019 detention for accused trafficking of young people.

In a separate statement, the artificial intelligence company expressed it understood the economist's decision to depart.

"We value his many contributions and the viewpoint he brought to the Board," the company stated.

Political Context

This announcement follows after the two houses of Congress agreed on this week to approve a legislation that would mandate the US justice department to make public its records on Jeffrey Epstein.

The measure will subsequently proceed to the administration of the White House for approval. Trump has stated he expects to endorse the measure, after modifying his view on the subject following pushback from his followers.

Message Details

A batch of Epstein-related messages made public by the legislative panel last week referenced numerous well-known personalities in the billionaire's previous network, without indicating any illegal behavior by those individuals.

The messages revealed that the professor and Epstein often met for meals, with the billionaire often trying to link the official to prominent global figures.

Personal Accountability

After the emails were shared with the general audience, the former official expressed he accepted "complete accountability for my misguided decision to maintain interacting with the financier".

He further stated that he desired "to reestablish trust and repair connections with the people most important to me".

Career Background

The professor held leadership roles under Democratic administrations; serving as treasury secretary under President Clinton, and as head of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He presided over the university from the early 2000s and continues to be a faculty member there. When announcing his withdrawal from public duties earlier on this week, he indicated he would continue his teaching commitments.

Other Impacts

Following Summers' statement on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a left-leaning think tank in the capital where the professor was a researcher, verified that he was not affiliated with the group.

The former official entered the board of the AI company, which creates ChatGPT, in 2023 - following a failed attempt to remove its CEO Sam Altman.