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

Summers commented in a release that he was "grateful for the chance to have served, optimistic about the promise of the company, and look forward tracking their progress".

The former Harvard president, who formerly led the prestigious university, announced on recently that he would be scaling back from public commitments due to his connections with the convicted sex offender.

Email Communications

The newly public messages demonstrated that the official exchanged messages with Jeffrey Epstein until the 24 hours preceding the financier's 2019 apprehension for alleged trafficking of underage individuals.

In a separate statement, the AI firm said it understood his decision to step down.

"We appreciate his significant contributions and the insight he provided to the directors," OpenAI stated.

Legislative Background

This announcement arrives after the two houses of the US legislature decided on this week to approve a measure that would compel the federal prosecutors to release its records on Jeffrey Epstein.

The legislation will subsequently proceed to the desk of US President Donald Trump for approval. The President has indicated he expects to endorse the measure, after reversing his stance on the matter following pushback from his supporters.

Message Details

A collection of Epstein-connected correspondence made public by the Congressional committee last week referenced multiple high-profile figures in the billionaire's past associates, without implying any illegal behavior by those individuals.

The emails showed that the professor and Epstein regularly had dinners together, with the billionaire often attempting to link the academic to notable global figures.

Personal Accountability

After the messages were made available with the public, Summers said he accepted "complete accountability for my ill-advised judgment to persist in interacting with Mr Epstein".

He added that he hoped "to restore faith and mend connections with the individuals most important to me".

Previous Positions

The economist occupied senior posts under Democratic administrations; acting as economic leader under Bill Clinton, and as head of the White House economic team under Barack Obama.

He led Harvard from five years and remains a faculty member there. When declaring his withdrawal from public roles recently on Monday, he stated he would maintain his teaching commitments.

Other Impacts

Following Summers' declaration on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a left-leaning think tank in the capital where Summers was a senior fellow, announced that he was no longer affiliated with the institution.

He joined the directorate of the AI company, which develops the language model, in the previous year - following a unsuccessful effort to remove its top executive the company leader.