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Former US treasury secretary the Harvard professor is departing from the directorate at the ChatGPT creator, just days after a batch of emails between him and notorious criminal the disgraced billionaire became widely known.

Summers remarked in a statement that he was "grateful for the opportunity to have served, enthusiastic about the potential of the company, and look forward observing their advancement".

The prominent academic, who previously led the Ivy League institution, declared on recently that he would be stepping back from public commitments due to his relationship with the convicted sex offender.

Message Exchange

The freshly disclosed communications demonstrated that the economist exchanged messages with the financier until the eve of his 2019 apprehension for suspected trafficking of minors.

In a separate statement, the artificial intelligence company said it respected the economist's choice to depart.

"We value his significant contributions and the viewpoint he offered to the governing body," OpenAI remarked.

Legislative Background

This announcement arrives after the entire Congress of the US legislature voted on recently to approve a bill that would compel the Department of Justice to release its records on Jeffrey Epstein.

The measure will subsequently proceed to the office of US President Donald Trump for approval. He has stated he plans to approve the legislation, after modifying his stance on the matter following pressure from his followers.

Correspondence Findings

A collection of Epstein-related emails released by the House Oversight Committee last week included several prominent individuals in the financier's past associates, without implying any legal wrongdoing by those individuals.

The emails showed that Summers and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had dinners together, with Epstein often attempting to introduce Summers to notable international personalities.

Personal Response

After the emails were made available with the general audience, the former official said he accepted "total ownership for my poor judgment to persist in communicating with the financier".

He further stated that he wanted "to rebuild faith and fix relationships with the individuals closest to me".

Previous Positions

Summers occupied high-level positions under Democratic administrations; functioning as Treasury chief under the former president, and as leader of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He led Harvard from five years and continues to be a academic there. When stating his withdrawal from public commitments earlier on Monday, he indicated he would persist with his academic responsibilities.

Additional Consequences

Following the economist's announcement on Monday, the policy organization, a liberal think tank in Washington where Summers was a prominent member, confirmed that Summers was not associated with the institution.

Summers joined the directorate of OpenAI, which creates the language model, in the previous year - following a defeated move to oust its top executive Sam Altman.