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Former US treasury secretary the Harvard professor is exiting the board at the ChatGPT creator, just several days after a series of electronic messages between him and notorious criminal the disgraced billionaire became public.

He stated in a release that he was "thankful for the chance to have contributed, optimistic about the prospects of the enterprise, and anticipate following their development".

The prominent academic, who formerly headed the Ivy League institution, stated on recently that he would be stepping back from public responsibilities due to his connections with Epstein.

Email Communications

The freshly disclosed emails revealed that the official corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein until the 24 hours preceding the financier's 2019 arrest for accused sex trafficking of underage individuals.

In a separate statement, the AI firm expressed it accepted Summers' decision to step down.

"We acknowledge his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the governing body," the company stated.

Congressional Action

This announcement arrives after the entire Congress of the legislative branch agreed on Tuesday to endorse a measure that would mandate the Department of Justice to release its files on Epstein.

The measure will afterward proceed to the administration of US President Donald Trump for approval. The President has stated he intends to approve the bill, after modifying his position on the issue following pushback from his base.

Message Details

A group of Epstein-related correspondence released by the Congressional committee last week mentioned numerous well-known personalities in the Epstein's past associates, without implying any legal wrongdoing by those figures.

The emails revealed that Summers and Jeffrey Epstein dined together frequently, with the billionaire often seeking to introduce Summers to influential world leaders.

Personal Response

After the messages were released with the general audience, the former official said he assumed "complete accountability for my ill-advised choice to persist in communicating with Mr Epstein".

He added that he wanted "to rebuild faith and repair bonds with the individuals most important to me".

Career Background

Summers held high-level positions under two Democratic presidents; acting as Treasury chief under Bill Clinton, and as leader of the economic advisory body under Barack Obama.

He headed the university from the early 2000s and is still a academic there. When stating his step-down from public duties recently on this week, he indicated he would continue his teaching commitments.

Other Impacts

Following his announcement on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a liberal policy institute in Washington where Summers was a researcher, announced that the economist was not associated with the organization.

Summers entered the leadership of the AI company, which makes the language model, in the previous year - following a defeated move to oust its CEO the company leader.