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Former US treasury secretary Larry Summers is leaving the governing body at OpenAI, just a week after a series of emails between him and late convicted sex offender the accused trafficker became widely known.

The economist stated in a statement that he was "thankful for the chance to have served, excited about the prospects of the enterprise, and eagerly await observing their advancement".

Summers, who formerly headed the prestigious university, announced on recently that he would be scaling back from public commitments due to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Digital Correspondence

The recently released communications showed that the economist exchanged messages with Jeffrey Epstein until the eve of the financier's 2019 apprehension for accused sex trafficking of young people.

In additional comments, the AI firm stated it accepted the economist's decision to step down.

"We appreciate his numerous inputs and the viewpoint he offered to the Board," the company commented.

Congressional Action

This development follows after the two houses of Congress decided on recently to endorse a bill that would require the US justice department to disclose its files on the case.

The measure will then move to the administration of the White House for endorsement. Trump has said he plans to sign the legislation, after modifying his position on the matter following objections from his supporters.

Message Details

A group of Epstein-related correspondence made public by the Congressional committee recently included several well-known personalities in the financier's past associates, without indicating any legal wrongdoing by those individuals.

The communications revealed that the professor and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had dinners together, with Epstein often attempting to connect the academic to notable international personalities.

Personal Accountability

After the emails were made available with the public, he expressed he took "total ownership for my ill-advised decision to maintain corresponding with Mr Epstein".

He further stated that he desired "to rebuild faith and fix connections with the people most important to me".

Previous Positions

The economist held senior posts under party leaders; serving as treasury secretary under President Clinton, and as director of the White House economic team under President Obama.

He led the institution from the early 2000s and remains a faculty member there. When announcing his step-down from public commitments earlier on Monday, he stated he would persist with his teaching commitments.

Further Repercussions

Following his declaration on earlier this week, the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy institute in Washington where he was a researcher, verified that Summers was no longer associated with the organization.

The former official became part of the board of the AI company, which develops the language model, in 2023 - following a failed attempt to oust its CEO OpenAI's head.