Larry Summers opened his Harvard class by admitting shame over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein after his emails with the pedophile were made public.
In a TikTok video recorded by a Harvard student, Summers spoke candidly about the controversy, which has intensified in recent days.
The former US Treasury Secretary recently resigned from the OpenAI board, and Harvard announced it is investigating his connections to Epstein.
The caption of the TikTok read: ‘And in the emails released he was asking Epstein for advice on a young woman he was coercing…… just gross.’
In the video, Summers is heard addressing the room filled with students, saying: ‘Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame, with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein.
‘I said I’m gonna step back from public activities for awhile but i think its very important to fulfill my teaching obligations and so with your permission I’m gonna go forward and talk about the material.’
OpenAI’s board said in its own statement: ‘Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision. We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board.’
Summers’ remarks come after a House committee released emails last week revealing years of personal correspondence with Epstein.
Larry Summers opened his Harvard class by addressing his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Summers resigned from the OpenAI board this week, citing his decision to step away from public commitments
Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019, exchanged emails with Summers up until the day before his arrest on sex-trafficking charges
Harvard has since launched an investigation into Summers’ relationship with Epstein
Summers previously served as Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, and Harvard president until his resignation in 2006 amid multiple controversies.
He joined OpenAI’s board in 2023 after the company welcomed back Sam Altman as CEO.
Daily Mail has reached out to Summers for comment.
Harvard’s student newspaper, The Crimson, reported that Summers exchanged emails with Epstein as late as July 5, 2019, just one day before Epstein was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges.
In those emails, Summers sought Epstein’s advice on pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as his mentee, even asking Epstein to help ‘workshop’ his messages to her.
Epstein often replied within minutes, at one point calling himself Summers’ ‘wing man’ in a November 2018 message.
In a March 2019 exchange, Summers wrote: ‘She must be very confused or maybe wants to cut me off but wants professional connection a lot and so holds to it.’
Harvard, where Summers is a professor and former president, has since launched an investigation into his relationship with Epstein, according to The Crimson.
