Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, announced his resignation Wednesday from the board of OpenAI, resulting from the recent release of emails documenting his years-long correspondence with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“In line with my announcement to step away from my public commitments, I have also decided to resign from the board of OpenAI,” Summers said Wednesday in a statement.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company and look forward to following their progress,” he added.
The San Francisco-based company thanked Summers for his work.
“Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision,” OpenAI’s board of directors said Wednesday in a statement. “We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board.”
Summers was appointed to OpenAI’s board in 2023 during a tumultuous period when Sam Altman, who was briefly ousted, rejoined as CEO.
Summers’ decision to step down came after a House of Representatives oversight committee released (opens in new tab) more than 20,000 pages of documents Nov. 12 containing extensive email exchanges between Summers and Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Summers, 70, had announced Monday that he was stepping back from all public commitments, saying he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions and took “full responsibility” for continuing to communicate with Epstein.
The correspondence revealed that Summers, a Harvard University professor, maintained a friendly relationship with Epstein long after the financier pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
Emails (opens in new tab) showed Summers seeking Epstein’s romantic advice, including one from March 2019 in which he described a woman’s response with language critics said reflected poor judgment.
The fallout for Summers has extended beyond OpenAI. The New York Times said (opens in new tab) it would not renew his contract as a contributing opinion writer. The Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank where he served as a distinguished senior fellow, and Yale University’s Budget Lab have also ended their associations with him.
Summers served as Treasury Secretary from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton and as president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006 before becoming a tenured professor at the university.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has called on Harvard to sever ties with Summers entirely, saying he “cannot be trusted” with students given his relationship with Epstein.