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Former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers is departing from the directorate at the artificial intelligence firm, just days after a batch of electronic messages between him and late convicted sex offender the disgraced billionaire became public.

The economist remarked in a statement that he was "thankful for the opportunity to have participated, optimistic about the potential of the enterprise, and look forward tracking their advancement".

The former Harvard president, who formerly headed Harvard University, declared on Monday that he would be stepping back from public roles due to his connections with Epstein.

Email Communications

The freshly disclosed emails revealed that the official exchanged messages with Epstein until the day before his 2019 detention for alleged sex trafficking of minors.

In a separate statement, the technology organization stated it understood the economist's decision to depart.

"We acknowledge his many contributions and the perspective he provided to the Board," OpenAI stated.

Political Context

This development comes after the entire Congress of the legislative branch decided on this week to endorse a legislation that would compel the US justice department to make public its records on the case.

The bill will subsequently move to the administration of the White House for approval. The President has indicated he expects to approve the bill, after changing his stance on the subject following pushback from his base.

Correspondence Findings

A group of Epstein-related messages disclosed by the House Oversight Committee last week mentioned several well-known personalities in the financier's former circle, without indicating any criminal activity by those individuals.

The communications revealed that the professor and Jeffrey Epstein often met for meals, with the billionaire often attempting to link the academic to prominent global figures.

Personal Accountability

After the correspondence were shared with the public, Summers said he took "total ownership for my ill-advised decision to persist in corresponding with the financier".

He added that he wanted "to rebuild trust and fix relationships with the people most important to me".

Career Background

The professor occupied leadership roles under two Democratic presidents; acting as economic leader under President Clinton, and as head of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He presided over Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and continues to be a academic there. When stating his departure from public commitments previously on Monday, he indicated he would persist with his teaching commitments.

Other Impacts

Following the economist's statement on earlier this week, the policy organization, a progressive research organization in the capital where he was a senior fellow, verified that the economist was not associated with the institution.

He joined the leadership of the technology firm, which makes the language model, in last year - following a failed attempt to replace its top executive the company leader.