Larry Summers resigns from OpenAI board after Epstein emails made public

Former US treasury secretary Larry Summers is stepping down from the board of OpenAI, a week after a tranche of emails between him and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released.

Summers said in a statement to the BBC that he was “grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress”.

Summers, who also once served as president of Harvard University, announced on Monday that he would be stepping back from public commitments because of his ties to Epstein.

The recently released emails reveal that Summers communicated with Epstein until the day before Epstein’s 2019 arrest for the alleged sex trafficking of minors.

In a statement, OpenAI said it respected Summers’ decision to resign.
“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” the company said.

The news comes after both chambers of Congress agreed on Tuesday to pass a measure requiring the US Justice Department to release its files on Epstein.

The measure now heads to the desk of US President Donald Trump for approval. He has said he plans to sign the bill, after reversing his earlier position on the issue following pushback from supporters.

A batch of Epstein-related emails released by the House Oversight Committee last week mentioned several high-profile figures in the financier’s former circle, without indicating any legal wrongdoing by those individuals.

The emails show that Summers and Epstein dined together frequently, with Epstein often attempting to connect Summers to prominent global figures.

After the emails became public, Summers said he took “full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein”.
He added that he wanted “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me”.

— BBC

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