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Ex-Treasury chief the Harvard professor is departing from the governing body at OpenAI, just days after a batch of emails between him and late convicted sex offender the accused trafficker became publicly available.

He remarked in a statement that he was "grateful for the chance to have participated, optimistic about the promise of the company, and eagerly await observing their development".

The prominent academic, who previously presided over the prestigious university, stated on Monday that he would be withdrawing from public commitments due to his relationship with the convicted sex offender.

Message Exchange

The freshly disclosed messages demonstrated that the official corresponded with Epstein until the day before Epstein's 2019 detention for alleged sex trafficking of minors.

In another announcement, the AI firm stated it understood the economist's decision to depart.

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

Congressional Action

This news arrives after the two houses of the legislative branch decided on recently to approve a legislation that would mandate the US justice department to disclose its documents on Jeffrey Epstein.

The measure will afterward proceed to the administration of US President Donald Trump for signature. Trump has said he expects to approve the measure, after modifying his position on the issue following pushback from his supporters.

Message Details

A group of financier-linked messages released by the Congressional committee days ago mentioned multiple well-known personalities in the billionaire's former circle, without implying any criminal activity by those individuals.

The emails showed that the economist and Epstein often met for meals, with the billionaire often seeking to link the official to influential world leaders.

Personal Response

After the emails were released with the general audience, he said he took "full responsibility for my ill-advised judgment to persist in corresponding with Jeffrey Epstein".

He continued that he desired "to rebuild trust and fix connections with the people most important to me".

Professional History

The professor occupied leadership roles under party leaders; acting as Treasury chief under the former president, and as head of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama.

He presided over Harvard from the early 2000s and is still a faculty member there. When stating his withdrawal from public commitments previously on Monday, he stated he would persist with his educational duties.

Additional Consequences

Following his declaration on Monday, the policy organization, a left-leaning think tank in Washington where he was a senior fellow, announced that Summers was no longer affiliated with the organization.

Summers joined the leadership of the technology firm, which develops the AI chatbot, in 2023 - following a unsuccessful effort to remove its CEO the company leader.