The Epstein files have claimed their first OpenAI victim: board member Larry Summers (techcrunch.com)

OpenAI board member and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers resigned after Congress released a trove of emails tied to Jeffrey Epstein that included exchanges between Summers and Epstein from late 2018 through mid‑2019. The messages reportedly show Summers seeking Epstein’s advice about pursuing a relationship with a woman he described as a mentee and acknowledging a power imbalance; Epstein had offered guidance and characterized himself as a “wing man.” Harvard has opened its own probe and Summers will step back from public commitments. The disclosures and his swift departure come immediately after both the House and Senate voted to make the Epstein files public. For the AI/ML community this is more than a political scandal: it’s a governance and reputational hit to one of the sector’s most influential organizations. Board composition affects strategic priorities, safety oversight, partnership decisions, and public trust in responsible AI development. A sudden vacancy and ensuing investigations could slow board-level decisions on policy, funding, or deployment safeguards and will likely intensify calls for stricter vetting, transparency, and conflict‑of‑interest rules across AI institutions. While the matter is personal rather than technical, its ripple effects underscore how governance lapses can tangibly influence the direction and credibility of AI research and deployment.