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Former US treasury secretary Larry Summers is leaving the board at OpenAI, just days after a collection of digital correspondence between him and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became public.

The economist stated in an announcement that he was "thankful for the chance to have served, excited about the promise of the enterprise, and anticipate tracking their advancement".

The prominent academic, who formerly led the prestigious university, declared on recently that he would be withdrawing from public responsibilities due to his connections with Jeffrey Epstein.

Digital Correspondence

The recently released emails showed that the economist communicated with Jeffrey Epstein until the 24 hours preceding Epstein's 2019 apprehension for alleged trafficking of minors.

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

"We acknowledge his many contributions and the insight he provided to the Board," OpenAI remarked.

Legislative Background

This development follows after the two houses of Congress agreed on recently to pass a bill that would require the Department of Justice to release its files on Epstein.

The bill will subsequently move to the office of President Trump for signature. The President has said he plans to sign the legislation, after reversing his stance on the issue following objections from his followers.

Correspondence Findings

A batch of Epstein-related correspondence disclosed by the House Oversight Committee recently included several well-known personalities in the financier's previous network, without implying any criminal activity by those individuals.

The messages indicated that the professor and Epstein dined together frequently, with the billionaire often attempting to connect the academic to influential world leaders.

Personal Response

After the messages were released with the public, Summers expressed he assumed "full responsibility for my ill-advised judgment to continue corresponding with Jeffrey Epstein".

He continued that he wanted "to restore faith and mend connections with the people nearest to me".

Professional History

The professor occupied high-level positions under two Democratic presidents; serving as Treasury chief under President Clinton, and as director of the National Economic Council under the former leader.

He led Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and is still a faculty member there. When stating his step-down from public commitments earlier on Monday, he indicated he would maintain his teaching commitments.

Additional Consequences

Following his declaration on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a liberal think tank in DC where the professor was a senior fellow, confirmed that Summers was ceased to be affiliated with the group.

He entered the board of OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, in the previous year - following a failed attempt to remove its top executive the company leader.