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Former US treasury secretary Larry Summers is departing from the governing body at the ChatGPT creator, just days after a series of electronic messages between him and notorious criminal the disgraced billionaire became publicly available.

He commented in an announcement that he was "grateful for the opportunity to have served, enthusiastic about the prospects of the organization, and look forward observing their development".

The prominent academic, who formerly led the prestigious university, declared on Monday that he would be stepping back from public commitments due to his connections with the convicted sex offender.

Message Exchange

The recently released emails showed that the official communicated with the financier until the 24 hours preceding Epstein's 2019 arrest for accused sex trafficking of minors.

In a separate statement, the AI firm expressed it accepted Summers' choice to depart.

"We acknowledge his many contributions and the viewpoint he offered to the governing body," the company commented.

Congressional Action

This news arrives after the entire Congress of Congress voted on this week to approve a legislation that would mandate the US justice department to disclose its documents on the case.

The bill will afterward move to the office of President Trump for signature. The President has said he expects to sign the legislation, after reversing his position on the subject following pushback from his followers.

Message Details

A collection of Epstein-related emails made public by the House Oversight Committee recently referenced numerous well-known personalities in the billionaire's previous network, without implying any legal wrongdoing by those people.

The emails indicated that the professor and the financier regularly had dinners together, with the billionaire often attempting to link the official to prominent international personalities.

Personal Accountability

After the correspondence were shared with the public, the former official said he accepted "full responsibility for my poor choice to continue corresponding with Mr Epstein".

He continued that he desired "to reestablish confidence and mend relationships with the individuals nearest to me".

Professional History

The economist occupied high-level positions under party leaders; acting as economic leader under Bill Clinton, and as head of the National Economic Council under the former leader.

He presided over Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and continues to be a faculty member there. When declaring his departure from public commitments previously on Monday, he indicated he would persist with his teaching commitments.

Other Impacts

Following the economist's announcement on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a progressive policy institute in DC where the professor was a senior fellow, announced that Summers was ceased to be associated with the organization.

Summers entered the board of OpenAI, which creates the language model, in the previous year - following a defeated move to oust its top executive the company leader.