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One-time economic leader the Harvard professor is leaving the board at the artificial intelligence firm, just days after a batch of digital correspondence between him and deceased financier the disgraced billionaire became public.

Summers stated in a release that he was "appreciative for the chance to have contributed, excited about the promise of the enterprise, and anticipate observing their advancement".

Summers, who previously presided over Harvard University, declared on Monday that he would be withdrawing from public roles due to his connections with Jeffrey Epstein.

Digital Correspondence

The freshly disclosed communications demonstrated that the economist exchanged messages with Epstein until the day before his 2019 detention for accused trafficking of minors.

In a separate statement, the artificial intelligence company stated it accepted his decision to resign.

"We appreciate his numerous inputs and the perspective he provided to the directors," OpenAI remarked.

Political Context

This announcement follows after the two houses of the legislative branch voted on this week to approve a measure that would compel the federal prosecutors to make public its documents on Jeffrey Epstein.

The legislation will subsequently proceed to the administration of the White House for endorsement. The President has indicated he expects to sign the legislation, after modifying his view on the issue following objections from his base.

Email Contents

A collection of Epstein-related correspondence made public by the Congressional committee last week mentioned multiple high-profile figures in the billionaire's past associates, without implying any legal wrongdoing by those figures.

The emails revealed that Summers and the financier regularly had dinners together, with the billionaire often attempting to introduce Summers to influential global figures.

Personal Accountability

After the correspondence were released with the general audience, the former official stated he accepted "total ownership for my poor decision to maintain interacting with Mr Epstein".

He continued that he hoped "to restore trust and mend bonds with the people closest to me".

Professional History

The professor occupied high-level positions under two Democratic presidents; acting as economic leader under the former president, and as director of the economic advisory body under the former leader.

He led Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and is still a faculty member there. When announcing his step-down from public commitments previously on Monday, he indicated he would persist with his academic responsibilities.

Further Repercussions

Following Summers' statement on earlier this week, the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington where the professor was a prominent member, confirmed that the economist was not affiliated with the group.

He entered the board of the technology firm, which makes the AI chatbot, in the previous year - following a defeated move to oust its chief executive OpenAI's head.