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Ex-Treasury chief the Harvard professor is exiting the directorate at OpenAI, just several days after a series of emails between him and late convicted sex offender the disgraced billionaire became publicly available.

The economist stated in an announcement that he was "grateful for the opportunity to have participated, enthusiastic about the potential of the enterprise, and anticipate observing their progress".

The former Harvard president, who once led the Ivy League institution, declared on recently that he would be withdrawing from public roles due to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Message Exchange

The freshly disclosed emails showed that the official exchanged messages with Jeffrey Epstein until the eve of the financier's 2019 apprehension for accused sex trafficking of young people.

In another announcement, the technology organization stated it respected Summers' choice to step down.

"We value his many contributions and the insight he provided to the directors," the organization remarked.

Legislative Background

This announcement comes after the entire Congress of the US legislature decided on Tuesday to approve a measure that would compel the US justice department to make public its files on Epstein.

The legislation will subsequently head to the administration of the White House for endorsement. He has indicated he intends to endorse the measure, after modifying his stance on the matter following pressure from his supporters.

Message Details

A batch of financier-linked messages disclosed by the House Oversight Committee last week included several high-profile figures in the Epstein's former circle, without suggesting any legal wrongdoing by those figures.

The messages revealed that the professor and the financier often met for meals, with he often trying to link the official to prominent international personalities.

Individual Statement

After the correspondence were released with the public, the former official expressed he assumed "complete accountability for my poor decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein".

He further stated that he wanted "to rebuild confidence and fix connections with the persons most important to me".

Previous Positions

Summers held leadership roles under two Democratic presidents; acting as treasury secretary under the former president, and as leader of the National Economic Council under the former leader.

He headed the university from five years and remains a academic there. When announcing his withdrawal from public commitments earlier on Monday, he indicated he would persist with his teaching commitments.

Additional Consequences

Following the economist's statement on Monday, the Center for American Progress, a progressive research organization in Washington where he was a senior fellow, announced that Summers was not associated with the group.

Summers entered the leadership of the AI company, which develops the AI chatbot, in the previous year - following a unsuccessful effort to replace its chief executive the company leader.