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Ex-Treasury chief the Harvard professor is leaving the governing body at the artificial intelligence firm, just days after a batch of electronic messages between him and notorious criminal Jeffrey Epstein became public.

He commented in a release that he was "thankful for the privilege to have contributed, optimistic about the potential of the enterprise, and look forward following their progress".

Summers, who previously headed the prestigious university, announced on Monday that he would be withdrawing from public roles due to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Message Exchange

The freshly disclosed messages demonstrated that the official exchanged messages with Epstein until the eve of the financier's 2019 apprehension for alleged trafficking of underage individuals.

In another announcement, the AI firm said it understood his determination to step down.

"We value his many contributions and the viewpoint he brought to the governing body," the company remarked.

Congressional Action

This news follows after the two houses of Congress decided on recently to pass a legislation that would mandate the US justice department to disclose its files on Epstein.

The legislation will subsequently move to the office of the White House for signature. Trump has indicated he expects to approve the measure, after reversing his position on the matter following pushback from his supporters.

Correspondence Findings

A batch of Epstein-connected messages released by the House Oversight Committee last week included multiple prominent individuals in the Epstein's former circle, without implying any criminal activity by those figures.

The messages revealed that Summers and the financier regularly had dinners together, with Epstein often attempting to link the academic to notable world leaders.

Personal Response

After the correspondence were released with the wider community, he said he assumed "total ownership for my ill-advised judgment to persist in communicating with Mr Epstein".

He added that he wanted "to reestablish trust and fix relationships with the individuals nearest to me".

Career Background

Summers held leadership roles under Democratic administrations; serving as Treasury chief under the former president, and as director of the National Economic Council under President Obama.

He presided over Harvard from the early 2000s and continues to be a academic there. When announcing his step-down from public duties previously on this week, he said he would continue his academic responsibilities.

Additional Consequences

Following the economist's announcement on earlier this week, the policy organization, a liberal research organization in the capital where Summers was a prominent member, verified that the economist was not connected with the institution.

He joined the leadership of the AI company, which creates the AI chatbot, in the previous year - following a unsuccessful effort to remove its top executive Sam Altman.