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Ex-Treasury chief the Harvard professor is departing from the board at OpenAI, just several days after a batch of electronic messages between him and notorious criminal Jeffrey Epstein became publicly available.

Summers stated in a release that he was "appreciative for the privilege to have participated, excited about the prospects of the enterprise, and anticipate observing their advancement".

The prominent academic, who formerly headed Harvard University, declared on earlier this week that he would be stepping back from public responsibilities due to his association with the convicted sex offender.

Message Exchange

The recently released messages revealed that the economist exchanged messages with the financier until the day before his 2019 apprehension for accused human trafficking of young people.

In another announcement, the artificial intelligence company stated it understood Summers' decision to resign.

"We appreciate his numerous inputs and the viewpoint he brought to the governing body," the organization remarked.

Legislative Background

This development comes after the two houses of the legislative branch voted on this week to pass a bill that would mandate the US justice department to make public its records on Epstein.

The legislation will subsequently head to the office of the White House for approval. Trump has stated he expects to approve the measure, after modifying his view on the issue following objections from his supporters.

Message Details

A collection of Epstein-related correspondence disclosed by the House Oversight Committee recently mentioned multiple prominent individuals in the Epstein's past associates, without suggesting any legal wrongdoing by those individuals.

The messages showed that the professor and Jeffrey Epstein often met for meals, with he often attempting to link the official to influential international personalities.

Personal Accountability

After the messages were released with the public, Summers stated he accepted "total ownership for my ill-advised decision to continue interacting with Jeffrey Epstein".

He added that he hoped "to rebuild faith and mend bonds with the individuals closest to me".

Professional History

Summers served in high-level positions under two Democratic presidents; acting as treasury secretary under the former president, and as head of the National Economic Council under the former leader.

He led the university from 2001 to 2006 and remains a professor there. When announcing his step-down from public duties recently on Monday, he said he would maintain his educational duties.

Other Impacts

Following the economist's statement on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a liberal research organization in DC where he was a prominent member, confirmed that Summers was no longer associated with the organization.

The former official became part of the leadership of the AI company, which develops the language model, in the previous year - following a unsuccessful effort to remove its chief executive OpenAI's head.