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One-time economic leader Lawrence Summers is leaving the governing body at OpenAI, just several days after a batch of digital correspondence between him and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became public.

The economist remarked in a statement that he was "thankful for the opportunity to have served, enthusiastic about the prospects of the organization, and eagerly await following their advancement".

The prominent academic, who once headed Harvard University, announced on earlier this week that he would be stepping back from public commitments due to his connections with Jeffrey Epstein.

Digital Correspondence

The freshly disclosed messages demonstrated that the economist corresponded with Epstein until the day before the financier's 2019 detention for accused sex trafficking of underage individuals.

In a separate statement, the artificial intelligence company stated it understood Summers' decision to depart.

"We value his significant contributions and the perspective he offered to the Board," OpenAI commented.

Legislative Background

This news comes after the entire Congress of the US legislature decided on this week to endorse a legislation that would mandate the federal prosecutors to release its records on Epstein.

The legislation will then head to the desk of President Trump for approval. The President has stated he plans to sign the legislation, after reversing his stance on the matter following objections from his followers.

Correspondence Findings

A group of Epstein-related correspondence released by the House Oversight Committee last week mentioned several prominent individuals in the Epstein's past associates, without implying any criminal activity by those individuals.

The messages revealed that the professor and Epstein regularly had dinners together, with he often trying to connect Summers to notable global figures.

Individual Statement

After the correspondence were made available with the public, he expressed he accepted "total ownership for my ill-advised judgment to persist in interacting with Mr Epstein".

He further stated that he hoped "to restore trust and mend connections with the people closest to me".

Career Background

Summers occupied leadership roles under party leaders; acting as treasury secretary under the former president, and as head of the economic advisory body under the former leader.

He headed the university from five years and is still a academic there. When declaring his departure from public duties previously on this week, he indicated he would persist with his educational duties.

Additional Consequences

Following his announcement on earlier this week, the Washington think tank, a progressive research organization in the capital where the professor was a researcher, confirmed that the economist was ceased to be associated with the organization.

The former official entered the directorate of the AI company, which makes ChatGPT, in last year - following a defeated move to replace its chief executive OpenAI's head.