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One-time economic leader the Harvard professor is departing from the board at the ChatGPT creator, just a week after a series of electronic messages between him and notorious criminal Jeffrey Epstein became public.

The economist commented in a statement that he was "grateful for the privilege to have served, enthusiastic about the promise of the enterprise, and eagerly await tracking their progress".

Summers, who once led Harvard University, stated on recently that he would be scaling back from public responsibilities due to his relationship with Epstein.

Email Communications

The recently released communications revealed that the economist corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein until the day before the financier's 2019 detention for accused trafficking of minors.

In additional comments, the artificial intelligence company stated it understood Summers' decision to depart.

"We acknowledge his numerous inputs and the viewpoint he provided to the governing body," OpenAI commented.

Congressional Action

This development follows after both chambers of the US legislature voted on this week to approve a legislation that would mandate the federal prosecutors to make public its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

The measure will then move to the office of the White House for approval. The President has said he expects to sign the bill, after reversing his view on the issue following pushback from his supporters.

Correspondence Findings

A batch of financier-linked emails released by the legislative panel last week referenced several well-known personalities in the Epstein's previous network, without indicating any illegal behavior by those people.

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

Personal Accountability

After the correspondence were made available with the public, the former official expressed he accepted "total ownership for my poor judgment to persist in interacting with the financier".

He continued that he wanted "to rebuild confidence and mend bonds with the individuals closest to me".

Previous Positions

Summers held senior posts under Democratic administrations; acting as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, and as leader of the economic advisory body under President Obama.

He presided over the institution from the early 2000s and continues to be a faculty member there. When stating his withdrawal from public roles earlier on this week, he said he would maintain his educational duties.

Other Impacts

Following the economist's declaration on earlier this week, the policy organization, a liberal think tank in Washington where Summers was a researcher, announced that he was no longer associated with the organization.

Summers became part of the directorate of the AI company, which develops the language model, in last year - following a defeated move to replace its top executive OpenAI's head.