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Former US treasury secretary the Harvard professor is exiting the governing body at the ChatGPT creator, just a week after a batch of emails between him and deceased financier the disgraced billionaire became publicly available.

He commented in a release that he was "appreciative for the privilege to have participated, excited about the prospects of the company, and look forward tracking their progress".

Summers, who previously led the prestigious university, declared on earlier this week that he would be stepping back from public responsibilities due to his association with Epstein.

Message Exchange

The freshly disclosed communications showed that Summers exchanged messages with Epstein until the day before his 2019 arrest for alleged sex trafficking of young people.

In another announcement, the technology organization stated it understood Summers' choice to depart.

"We value his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the directors," the organization stated.

Political Context

This announcement follows after both chambers of Congress voted on recently to approve a bill that would require the US justice department to release its documents on Epstein.

The legislation will afterward move to the office of the White House for approval. Trump has stated he intends to approve the measure, after modifying his view on the issue following pushback from his followers.

Email Contents

A collection of financier-linked correspondence made public by the House Oversight Committee days ago included several high-profile figures in the billionaire's previous network, without indicating any criminal activity by those figures.

The communications indicated that the professor and the financier regularly had dinners together, with Epstein often trying to connect the official to notable international personalities.

Personal Response

After the emails were released with the general audience, Summers stated he took "complete accountability for my misguided decision to persist in interacting with Jeffrey Epstein".

He continued that he desired "to rebuild confidence and mend connections with the persons most important to me".

Previous Positions

The professor held senior posts under two Democratic presidents; acting as Treasury chief under Bill Clinton, and as leader of the White House economic team under the former leader.

He led the university from 2001 to 2006 and remains a professor there. When stating his step-down from public commitments earlier on this week, he indicated he would persist with his teaching commitments.

Further Repercussions

Following his announcement on earlier this week, the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy institute in DC where Summers was a researcher, confirmed that Summers was no longer affiliated with the group.

The former official became part of the leadership of the technology firm, which creates the language model, in last year - following a defeated move to remove its CEO the company leader.