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Former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers is leaving the board at the ChatGPT creator, just several days after a series of emails between him and deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein became widely known.

Summers remarked in an announcement that he was "appreciative for the chance to have contributed, optimistic about the promise of the enterprise, and eagerly await observing their progress".

The former Harvard president, who previously led Harvard University, announced on earlier this week that he would be stepping back from public responsibilities due to his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Email Communications

The freshly disclosed emails demonstrated that the official corresponded with Epstein until the day before the financier's 2019 apprehension for alleged human trafficking of underage individuals.

In another announcement, the technology organization stated it accepted his decision to resign.

"We value his many contributions and the viewpoint he provided to the governing body," OpenAI stated.

Political Context

This development arrives after the entire Congress of the legislative branch agreed on recently to approve a bill that would mandate the Department of Justice to disclose its records on Jeffrey Epstein.

The bill will then head to the administration of the White House for approval. He has indicated he intends to sign the bill, after changing his view on the issue following pushback from his supporters.

Email Contents

A batch of financier-linked messages released by the legislative panel recently referenced numerous high-profile figures in the Epstein's former circle, without indicating any illegal behavior by those figures.

The emails revealed that the economist and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had dinners together, with the billionaire often trying to link the academic to influential world leaders.

Personal Accountability

After the messages were shared with the general audience, Summers expressed he accepted "full responsibility for my poor decision to continue corresponding with Mr Epstein".

He continued that he hoped "to rebuild confidence and repair connections with the people most important to me".

Previous Positions

Summers occupied high-level positions under two Democratic presidents; acting as Treasury chief under the former president, and as director of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He presided over Harvard from five years and continues to be a faculty member there. When declaring his departure from public duties previously on this week, he stated he would continue his educational duties.

Other Impacts

Following Summers' announcement on Monday, the policy organization, a left-leaning research organization in the capital where Summers was a senior fellow, verified that the economist was no longer affiliated with the group.

Summers joined the directorate of OpenAI, which creates the language model, in the previous year - following a unsuccessful effort to oust its CEO OpenAI's head.