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Former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers is departing from the board at the ChatGPT creator, just several days after a collection of emails between him and late convicted sex offender the disgraced billionaire became public.

He stated in a statement that he was "appreciative for the chance to have participated, excited about the prospects of the company, and eagerly await following their development".

The prominent academic, who formerly led Harvard University, declared on recently that he would be stepping back from public roles due to his relationship with the convicted sex offender.

Message Exchange

The freshly disclosed messages showed that Summers exchanged messages with Epstein until the 24 hours preceding Epstein's 2019 apprehension for alleged sex trafficking of minors.

In additional comments, the technology organization stated it respected his determination to resign.

"We appreciate his numerous inputs and the viewpoint he provided to the Board," the company remarked.

Political Context

This announcement follows after the two houses of the legislative branch decided on recently to endorse a bill that would mandate the federal prosecutors to make public its records on Epstein.

The bill will subsequently move to the desk of US President Donald Trump for endorsement. The President has indicated he plans to sign the legislation, after modifying his position on the subject following objections from his base.

Message Details

A group of Epstein-connected messages made public by the legislative panel recently referenced multiple well-known personalities in the Epstein's former circle, without suggesting any illegal behavior by those individuals.

The emails showed that the economist and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had dinners together, with Epstein often seeking to connect the academic to notable international personalities.

Individual Statement

After the messages were shared with the public, he said he took "full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Jeffrey Epstein".

He continued that he hoped "to rebuild confidence and repair connections with the people most important to me".

Professional History

The economist served in senior posts under Democratic administrations; functioning as Treasury chief under the former president, and as leader of the National Economic Council under the former leader.

He led Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and is still a faculty member there. When declaring his withdrawal from public commitments previously on this week, he said he would maintain his educational duties.

Other Impacts

Following the economist's statement on Monday, the policy organization, a liberal think tank in Washington where he was a senior fellow, verified that he was no longer affiliated with the institution.

The former official became part of the leadership of the AI company, which makes ChatGPT, in 2023 - following a unsuccessful effort to replace its top executive the company leader.