One-time economic leader Lawrence Summers is leaving the directorate at the artificial intelligence firm, just a week after a batch of electronic messages between him and notorious criminal the disgraced billionaire became public.
The economist commented in an announcement that he was "grateful for the privilege to have participated, optimistic about the potential of the organization, and anticipate tracking their development".
The former Harvard president, who previously presided over Harvard University, declared on Monday that he would be stepping back from public responsibilities due to his association with the convicted sex offender.
The newly public communications demonstrated that the economist communicated with Epstein until the 24 hours preceding his 2019 arrest for accused sex trafficking of underage individuals.
In additional comments, the technology organization said it respected his choice to depart.
"We value his numerous inputs and the viewpoint he provided to the governing body," the company remarked.
This news follows after both chambers of the US legislature decided on recently to endorse a measure that would require the federal prosecutors to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
The legislation will then move to the desk of US President Donald Trump for signature. Trump has indicated he plans to endorse the measure, after modifying his stance on the matter following objections from his supporters.
A collection of Epstein-related messages released by the House Oversight Committee days ago included numerous high-profile figures in the Epstein's former circle, without indicating any criminal activity by those people.
The messages revealed that the professor and the financier regularly had dinners together, with he often trying to connect the academic to influential world leaders.
After the messages were shared with the wider community, the former official said he took "full responsibility for my poor choice to persist in corresponding with Mr Epstein".
He continued that he wanted "to reestablish trust and mend bonds with the people most important to me".
The economist occupied leadership roles under two Democratic presidents; acting as economic leader under the former president, and as head of the White House economic team under Barack Obama.
He headed Harvard from the early 2000s and remains a faculty member there. When announcing his step-down from public roles earlier on this week, he indicated he would persist with his teaching commitments.
Following Summers' statement on earlier this week, the Center for American Progress, a progressive policy institute in Washington where he was a prominent member, verified that Summers was not affiliated with the organization.
The former official joined the board of the technology firm, which creates ChatGPT, in last year - following a failed attempt to oust its CEO OpenAI's head.
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