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Former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers is exiting the board at the ChatGPT creator, just days after a series of digital correspondence between him and deceased financier the disgraced billionaire became publicly available.

The economist commented in a release that he was "grateful for the privilege to have contributed, excited about the promise of the enterprise, and eagerly await following their development".

The former Harvard president, who once headed Harvard University, stated on Monday that he would be withdrawing from public roles due to his association with Epstein.

Digital Correspondence

The newly public communications showed that the official corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein until the day before Epstein's 2019 detention for alleged sex trafficking of underage individuals.

In a separate statement, the AI firm expressed it respected his choice to step down.

"We acknowledge his significant contributions and the perspective he provided to the directors," the organization remarked.

Congressional Action

This news arrives after both chambers of Congress voted on this week to endorse a bill that would mandate the federal prosecutors to release its records on Epstein.

The bill will then move to the office of President Trump for endorsement. Trump has said he plans to sign the measure, after modifying his position on the issue following objections from his followers.

Correspondence Findings

A group of financier-linked messages disclosed by the House Oversight Committee last week mentioned numerous well-known personalities in the Epstein's former circle, without suggesting any legal wrongdoing by those individuals.

The communications revealed that the professor and Epstein regularly had dinners together, with Epstein often attempting to connect the academic to notable global figures.

Individual Statement

After the correspondence were made available with the wider community, he expressed he assumed "total ownership for my misguided choice to continue interacting with Jeffrey Epstein".

He added that he hoped "to rebuild trust and repair bonds with the persons most important to me".

Professional History

The economist occupied senior posts under two Democratic presidents; acting as economic leader under the former president, and as leader of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama.

He presided over the institution from the early 2000s and is still a faculty member there. When announcing his departure from public duties earlier on Monday, he said he would persist with his academic responsibilities.

Further Repercussions

Following his announcement on Monday, the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy institute in DC where the professor was a researcher, verified that Summers was ceased to be connected with the institution.

He became part of the directorate of the AI company, which creates ChatGPT, in the previous year - following a defeated move to remove its chief executive the company leader.