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One-time economic leader the Harvard professor is departing from the board at the artificial intelligence firm, just several days after a batch of digital correspondence between him and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became widely known.

The economist remarked in a statement that he was "grateful for the privilege to have contributed, optimistic about the prospects of the enterprise, and anticipate tracking their development".

The former Harvard president, who once presided over Harvard University, declared on recently that he would be withdrawing from public roles due to his association with Epstein.

Email Communications

The recently released communications demonstrated that the official exchanged messages with the financier until the eve of the financier's 2019 arrest for alleged trafficking of young people.

In another announcement, the technology organization said it understood Summers' choice to step down.

"We appreciate his numerous inputs and the insight he provided to the governing body," OpenAI commented.

Legislative Background

This announcement comes after both chambers of Congress voted on this week to pass a bill that would mandate the federal prosecutors to make public its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

The measure will afterward head to the office of President Trump for approval. He has stated he plans to endorse the bill, after changing his view on the subject following pushback from his base.

Email Contents

A batch of Epstein-connected correspondence released by the House Oversight Committee days ago included multiple high-profile figures in the financier's past associates, without implying any legal wrongdoing by those people.

The emails revealed that the professor and the financier dined together frequently, with Epstein often attempting to link Summers to notable global figures.

Individual Statement

After the correspondence were shared with the wider community, Summers said he accepted "full responsibility for my misguided judgment to continue communicating with Mr Epstein".

He added that he hoped "to rebuild confidence and mend relationships with the persons nearest to me".

Professional History

The economist served in senior posts under Democratic administrations; acting as economic leader under Bill Clinton, and as leader of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He led the university from the early 2000s and remains a professor there. When stating his step-down from public commitments recently on Monday, he stated he would continue his teaching commitments.

Other Impacts

Following the economist's announcement on earlier this week, the Center for American Progress, a progressive research organization in the capital where Summers was a prominent member, announced that Summers was not affiliated with the group.

Summers became part of the board of OpenAI, which creates the language model, in the previous year - following a unsuccessful effort to oust its top executive Sam Altman.