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Ex-Treasury chief Larry Summers is leaving the board at the ChatGPT creator, just several 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 "thankful for the opportunity to have participated, excited about the prospects of the enterprise, and anticipate following their development".

The former Harvard president, who formerly presided over the prestigious university, stated on recently that he would be stepping back from public responsibilities due to his relationship with the convicted sex offender.

Message Exchange

The freshly disclosed communications demonstrated that Summers communicated with Jeffrey Epstein until the eve of Epstein's 2019 arrest for accused trafficking of minors.

In another announcement, the artificial intelligence company said it understood his determination to resign.

"We value his many contributions and the viewpoint he brought to the directors," the company remarked.

Political Context

This development comes after the entire Congress of the legislative branch decided on recently to approve a legislation that would compel the US justice department to release its records on the case.

The legislation will then move to the administration of the White House for approval. The President has said he intends to approve the measure, after reversing his stance on the matter following pushback from his base.

Email Contents

A group of Epstein-connected messages made public by the Congressional committee days ago mentioned several well-known personalities in the Epstein's previous network, without indicating any illegal behavior by those people.

The emails revealed that Summers and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had dinners together, with the billionaire often trying to introduce the official to influential global figures.

Individual Statement

After the emails were made available with the public, Summers expressed he accepted "full responsibility for my poor judgment to maintain communicating with Jeffrey Epstein".

He added that he hoped "to reestablish trust and repair bonds with the individuals closest to me".

Professional History

Summers occupied leadership roles under party leaders; acting as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, and as director of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He headed the institution from 2001 to 2006 and remains a professor there. When stating his departure from public roles previously on this week, he said he would continue his academic responsibilities.

Additional Consequences

Following Summers' statement on earlier this week, the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in the capital where he was a prominent member, confirmed that Summers was not connected with the institution.

He entered the directorate of OpenAI, which creates ChatGPT, in the previous year - following a defeated move to replace its CEO OpenAI's head.