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Former US treasury secretary the Harvard professor is departing from the directorate at the artificial intelligence firm, just days after a batch of digital correspondence between him and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became widely known.

Summers stated in a statement that he was "grateful for the opportunity to have contributed, optimistic about the promise of the organization, and look forward observing their progress".

The former Harvard president, who previously presided over the prestigious university, declared on earlier this week that he would be scaling back from public roles due to his association with Epstein.

Message Exchange

The recently released communications demonstrated that the economist exchanged messages with Epstein until the eve of his 2019 detention for suspected human trafficking of minors.

In a separate statement, the AI firm said it respected his decision to depart.

"We acknowledge his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board," the organization stated.

Congressional Action

This development follows after the two houses of Congress voted on recently to approve a bill that would compel the US justice department to release its records on Jeffrey Epstein.

The bill will afterward move to the desk of US President Donald Trump for endorsement. Trump has said he intends to endorse the measure, after reversing his view on the matter following pressure from his followers.

Correspondence Findings

A group of Epstein-connected correspondence released by the House Oversight Committee recently mentioned multiple well-known personalities in the billionaire's past associates, without suggesting any legal wrongdoing by those figures.

The messages showed that the professor and the financier regularly had dinners together, with the billionaire often seeking to introduce Summers to notable global figures.

Individual Statement

After the messages were shared with the public, the former official expressed he took "total ownership for my poor judgment to persist in communicating with Jeffrey Epstein".

He further stated that he hoped "to rebuild trust and fix relationships with the persons most important to me".

Professional History

Summers occupied leadership roles under two Democratic presidents; acting as Treasury chief under the former president, and as head of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He headed the institution from 2001 to 2006 and continues to be a academic there. When stating his withdrawal from public duties recently on Monday, he stated he would continue his teaching commitments.

Additional Consequences

Following his announcement on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a left-leaning policy institute in DC where he was a senior fellow, confirmed that he was no longer connected with the organization.

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