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Former US treasury secretary the Harvard professor is exiting the board at the artificial intelligence firm, just several days after a batch of digital correspondence between him and deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein became publicly available.

Summers remarked in a statement that he was "appreciative for the privilege to have served, excited about the prospects of the organization, and anticipate observing their progress".

The prominent academic, who once headed the Ivy League institution, declared on earlier this week that he would be withdrawing from public responsibilities due to his connections with Epstein.

Email Communications

The newly public communications revealed that Summers communicated with the financier until the 24 hours preceding the financier's 2019 apprehension for suspected human trafficking of young people.

In additional comments, the AI firm stated it understood his choice to depart.

"We appreciate his numerous inputs and the perspective he provided to the Board," the company stated.

Political Context

This development arrives after both chambers of Congress voted on Tuesday to endorse a measure that would compel the US justice department to release its records on Jeffrey Epstein.

The measure will then proceed to the desk of President Trump for endorsement. He has stated he expects to endorse the bill, after changing his stance on the matter following objections from his base.

Email Contents

A collection of financier-linked messages made public by the Congressional committee last week included numerous well-known personalities in the financier's former circle, without suggesting any legal wrongdoing by those people.

The communications showed that the economist and Jeffrey Epstein regularly had dinners together, with he often seeking to introduce the academic to prominent world leaders.

Personal Accountability

After the correspondence were released with the general audience, he said he accepted "complete accountability for my poor choice to continue communicating with Jeffrey Epstein".

He further stated that he wanted "to reestablish trust and repair connections with the people closest to me".

Previous Positions

The economist occupied leadership roles under two Democratic presidents; functioning as economic leader under President Clinton, and as head of the White House economic team under Barack Obama.

He presided over the institution from five years and remains a faculty member there. When stating his departure from public roles recently on Monday, he said he would continue his academic responsibilities.

Additional Consequences

Following his statement on Monday, the policy organization, a progressive think tank in DC where he was a senior fellow, verified that the economist was not affiliated with the institution.

He became part of the board of the technology firm, which makes the language model, in the previous year - following a defeated move to remove its CEO OpenAI's head.