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Former US treasury secretary the Harvard professor is exiting the directorate at the artificial intelligence firm, just a week after a batch of electronic messages between him and late convicted sex offender the disgraced billionaire became public.

The economist stated in an announcement that he was "thankful for the opportunity to have participated, excited about the promise of the company, and anticipate following their progress".

Summers, who once presided over the Ivy League institution, stated on recently that he would be withdrawing from public responsibilities due to his connections with Epstein.

Digital Correspondence

The newly public messages revealed that the official corresponded with Epstein until the day before the financier's 2019 arrest for alleged human trafficking of minors.

In additional comments, the artificial intelligence company expressed it understood the economist's determination to depart.

"We acknowledge his significant contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board," the organization commented.

Legislative Background

This announcement follows after the two houses of the US legislature voted on this week to approve a measure that would compel the Department of Justice to disclose its files on the case.

The legislation will subsequently head to the administration of the White House for approval. The President has indicated he expects to endorse the bill, after reversing his view on the issue following pushback from his supporters.

Message Details

A batch of financier-linked correspondence disclosed by the House Oversight Committee last week referenced numerous prominent individuals in the Epstein's former circle, without suggesting any illegal behavior by those individuals.

The emails showed that the professor and Jeffrey Epstein often met for meals, with he often seeking to connect Summers to influential global figures.

Personal Response

After the messages were made available with the general audience, he expressed he accepted "total ownership for my misguided judgment to maintain communicating with the financier".

He continued that he wanted "to rebuild confidence and fix relationships with the persons nearest to me".

Previous Positions

The economist served in high-level positions under Democratic administrations; functioning as economic leader under Bill Clinton, and as head of the National Economic Council under the former leader.

He headed Harvard from the early 2000s and remains a professor there. When declaring his step-down from public roles earlier on Monday, he said he would continue his teaching commitments.

Further Repercussions

Following Summers' statement on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a progressive research organization in DC where he was a senior fellow, confirmed that he was ceased to be connected with the group.

Summers entered the board of the AI company, which develops the language model, in 2023 - following a unsuccessful effort to replace its chief executive OpenAI's head.