Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is resigning from OpenAI’s board of directors, the ChatGPT maker and his office said on Wednesday.
His departure comes after the release of emails which shows that he maintained a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein long after the financier pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
“Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors and we respect his decision,” the board said in a statement.
“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brings to the Council.”
The announcement came a day after Summers said he was take a step back from public commitments.
“In line with my announcement to step back from my public obligations, I have also decided to resign from the OpenAI board,” Summers said in a separate statement from his spokesperson Kelly Friendly.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve, excited about the company’s potential and look forward to following their progress.”
Summers, who is also a former president of Harvard University, joined OpenAI’s board in November 2023, part of a attempt to restore stability at the nonprofit and bring back CEO Sam Altman after the previous board members fired Altman days earlier.
Epstein, who committed suicide several years ago, was a convicted sex offender, infamous for his connections to rich and powerful people, which made him a beacon of outrage and conspiracy theories about misconduct among American elites.
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