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Former US treasury secretary the Harvard professor is exiting the board at the ChatGPT creator, just several days after a batch of emails between him and notorious criminal Jeffrey Epstein became public.

The economist stated in an announcement that he was "thankful for the chance to have participated, excited about the prospects of the company, and eagerly await tracking their development".

The prominent academic, who formerly presided over the prestigious university, stated on recently that he would be scaling back from public commitments due to his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Email Communications

The newly public communications demonstrated that the official communicated with the financier until the eve of his 2019 detention for alleged sex trafficking of young people.

In a separate statement, the technology organization said it accepted the economist's decision to step down.

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

Political Context

This news follows after both chambers of the legislative branch agreed on Tuesday to endorse a bill that would require the US justice department to disclose its documents on Epstein.

The bill will subsequently head to the desk of US President Donald Trump for approval. Trump has said he plans to approve the bill, after reversing his view on the subject following pushback from his supporters.

Message Details

A group of Epstein-connected messages disclosed by the legislative panel days ago included multiple prominent individuals in the billionaire's former circle, without suggesting any legal wrongdoing by those people.

The communications indicated that the professor and the financier often met for meals, with Epstein often trying to introduce the academic to notable world leaders.

Individual Statement

After the correspondence were shared with the wider community, he stated he took "complete accountability for my poor choice to maintain communicating with Jeffrey Epstein".

He further stated that he desired "to restore faith and fix bonds with the persons nearest to me".

Previous Positions

Summers served in high-level positions under two Democratic presidents; serving as economic leader under the former president, and as director of the White House economic team under Barack Obama.

He headed Harvard from the early 2000s and continues to be a academic there. When declaring his departure from public commitments previously on this week, he said he would maintain his academic responsibilities.

Other Impacts

Following the economist's declaration on earlier this week, the policy organization, a progressive think tank in DC where the professor was a senior fellow, confirmed that the economist was no longer connected with the organization.

The former official entered the directorate of the AI company, which makes the AI chatbot, in last year - following a defeated move to remove its CEO Sam Altman.