Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has resigned from the board of OpenAI after Congress released a large collection of email exchanges between Summers and Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose communications have become the focus of renewed scrutiny. Summers, who is also a former president of Harvard University and a current professor, is now the subject of an internal review by the university, according to reporting from The Harvard Crimson. The newspaper also reported that he plans to withdraw from several public roles.
The emails, spanning late 2018 to mid-2019, detailed personal discussions in which Summers described navigating a relationship with a woman he mentored while acknowledging the imbalance of power involved. Epstein, who was later arrested in July 2019 on charges related to sex trafficking, repeatedly positioned himself as an adviser in those private exchanges.
Summers’ departure from OpenAI marks the latest high-profile consequence stemming from the release of the congressional files.
