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Former US treasury secretary Larry Summers is exiting the governing body at OpenAI, just days after a collection of electronic messages between him and notorious criminal Jeffrey Epstein became publicly available.

He stated in a statement that he was "appreciative for the opportunity to have served, excited about the prospects of the company, and anticipate following their progress".

The prominent academic, who formerly presided over the Ivy League institution, stated on recently that he would be scaling back from public commitments due to his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Message Exchange

The freshly disclosed emails showed that Summers exchanged messages with Jeffrey Epstein until the day before the financier's 2019 apprehension for alleged human trafficking of young people.

In additional comments, the AI firm stated it accepted Summers' decision to resign.

"We acknowledge his significant contributions and the viewpoint he brought to the Board," the company commented.

Political Context

This development follows after both chambers of the legislative branch agreed on this week to endorse a measure that would require the Department of Justice to make public its documents on the case.

The measure will afterward move to the desk of the White House for approval. He has said he intends to approve the bill, after reversing his position on the matter following pushback from his supporters.

Email Contents

A collection of financier-linked emails disclosed by the Congressional committee last week referenced numerous prominent individuals in the Epstein's previous network, without indicating any legal wrongdoing by those individuals.

The messages indicated that Summers and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had dinners together, with he often seeking to introduce the academic to prominent global figures.

Individual Statement

After the messages were made available with the wider community, he said he accepted "total ownership for my misguided judgment to maintain corresponding with the financier".

He added that he desired "to restore confidence and repair bonds with the persons nearest to me".

Career Background

Summers held senior posts under two Democratic presidents; acting as economic leader under the former president, and as director of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He presided over the university from five years and continues to be a faculty member there. When declaring his withdrawal from public roles previously on Monday, he stated he would continue his educational duties.

Additional Consequences

Following Summers' declaration on Monday, the policy organization, a liberal think tank in DC where he was a prominent member, verified that the economist was ceased to be affiliated with the institution.

The former official became part of the board of the AI company, which develops the AI chatbot, in last year - following a defeated move to oust its CEO the company leader.