Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, has resigned from the board of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, in the wake of a firestorm over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Summers’ exit from the high-profile artificial intelligence firm came Wednesday, just two days after he announced he was stepping back from all public commitments following the release of thousands of his emails with the disgraced financier.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress,” Summers said in a statement to CNBC.
OpenAI’s board said it respected Summers’ decision.
“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” the board said in a statement.
The controversy erupted last week when the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released more than 20,000 documents from Epstein’s estate, revealing a chummy relationship between Summers and the notorious pedophile.
The emails, which continued until the day before Epstein’s 2019 arrest, showed the two men corresponding about a woman Summers was interested in, among other topics.
The newly released emails show Summers maintained regular contact with Epstein for years after his 2008 conviction.
In the emails, the two men traded personal updates and sought advice from one another even as fresh reporting detailed Epstein’s abuse of underage girls.
The emails also documented Summers discussing a woman he was pursuing and asking Epstein for guidance.
The fallout widened as several institutions cut ties.
Summers told the Yale Budget Lab and the Hamilton Project that he would step away from their advisory groups, while the Center for American Progress ended his fellowship and the Center for Global Development confirmed he resigned as board chair.
The New York Times also opted not to continue its relationship with him. The newspaper reported that his one-year opinion contract will not be renewed in light of the emails.
Meanwhile, a webinar with the Economic Club of New York that was scheduled to include Summers this week was abruptly postponed.
Harvard declined to comment on his status at the university, where he plans to continue teaching economics.
Prominent Democrats rebuked him as the emails circulated.
Critics said the yearslong contact showed unacceptable judgment given Epstein’s criminal history and the widespread public record of his exploitation of minors.
House Republicans, who released more than 20,000 pages from Epstein’s estate, said the documents shed new light on his ties to political, academic and media figures.
The tranche included exchanges between Summers and Epstein as late as 2019, months before the financier died in federal custody.
The episode has also drawn in the White House.
President Donald Trump, facing scrutiny over his own connections to Epstein, said he would direct his administration to examine the financier’s links to Democrats, including Summers and former President Bill Clinton.
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