Summers Leaves His Posts — But Openai Still Quiet

The rapid unwinding of Larry Summers’ public career accelerated on Tuesday, after emails showed the former Treasury secretary sought romantic advice from late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Summers surrendered positions with Bloomberg News, the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, while The New York Times said it would not renew his contract as a contributor.

But Summers is notably still listed on the nonprofit board of OpenAI, widely seen as the world’s most influential artificial intelligence company — despite a senior Trump administration official suggesting on Monday that the AI giant should end its relationship with the disgraced economist.

The pressure is a new kind of public scrutiny for a high-flying company that has built close ties to the Trump administration.

Dean Ball, a former top AI adviser in the Trump White House, said OpenAI could face significant blowback from the administration if it digs in on keeping Summers on its board — and if the White House pursues the matter.

Washington “has lots of leverage” over OpenAI, said Ball, now a senior fellow at the tech-friendly Foundation for American Innovation. Highlighting the “interdependency” between the U.S. government and the world’s leading AI firm, he said the White House “can apply lots of soft pressure” to convince OpenAI to dump Summers.

A spokesperson for Summers did not respond to a request for comment.

Summers’ sudden retreat marks a sharp reversal for an influential public figure who has bounced back from numerous controversies, including his resignation as president of Harvard University in 2006 under pressure over comments about women's math abilities.

Summers has remained a fixture at the topmost echelons of the global intellectual and policy world, with an elite university professorship at Harvard, regular appearances at Davos and close contact with Democratic economic and political leaders.

Summers has also stepped down from positions at the Center for American Progress and Yale Budget Lab.

His board seat at the nonprofit that runs OpenAI gives him oversight of a company often touted as a unique U.S. asset in the global tech competition with China — but that also needs significant goodwill from the White House to hit its lofty business goals. OpenAI just completed a hard-fought corporate restructuring after winning the blessing of Democratic officials in California and Delaware that could allow it to go public with a reported potential $1 trillion valuation.

Ball said the pressure could include the loss of some tariff exemptions or restricted access to federal contracts. One OpenAI official recently floated the idea of a government “backstop” for the company’s enormous loans — an unpopular idea that would be even tougher to secure if the administration thinks its warning about Summers is being ignored.

“The U.S. government can find ways to hurt you,” said Ball.

On Monday, Summers said he intends to “step back” from his public commitments, but did not say whether he would resign from the OpenAI board. As of Tuesday evening, he was still listed as a board member on OpenAI’s website.

Spokespeople for OpenAI did not respond to repeated questions on Summers. Neither did the directors of OpenAI’s board contacted by POLITICO, including AI executive and board chair Bret Taylor; Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo; Dr. Zico Kolter, an AI professor at Carnegie Mellon University; Adebayo Ogunlesi, CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners; Nicole Seligman, a former executive at Sony Entertainment; and Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Reached by phone on Tuesday, retired four-star general and OpenAI board member Paul Nakasone declined to comment.

Many tech observers suggested it’s only a matter of time before Summers leaves his OpenAI board seat, after emails released as part of the House Democrats’ Epstein probe showed the Harvard professor soliciting advice from Epstein related to his romantic pursuit of a woman described as his mentee. In one message, the convicted sex offender refers to himself as Summers’ “wing man.”

Summers “has been a lightning rod for three decades — but the Epstein controversy is more radioactive than anything else he survived,” said Nu Wexler, a tech consultant and former staffer at Google, Meta and Twitter.

“If OpenAI is going to remove him from the board, they should do it swiftly and definitively,” said Wexler. “Contain the fire before it spreads to other rooms in the house.”

Though President Donald Trump lacks direct legal or regulatory authority over OpenAI, Wexler said OpenAI is still exposed to “indirect pressure” — including tax scrutiny and the possible withdrawal of government contracts.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Trump administration has pressured tech companies to fire top talent. In September, Trump personally called on Microsoft to fire former Department of Justice official Lisa Monaco — a demand that the tech giant ignored, with little apparent blowback.

Summers originally joined the OpenAI board after a highly public boardroom coup that briefly saw the ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The former Treasury secretary was widely seen as a stabilizing presence after Altman’s fellow board members accused Altman of dishonesty and stripped him of his titles.

Altman eventually returned as CEO and to his board seat, and the company seated more members with sterling corporate and nonprofit records, including Desmond-Hellmann and Seligman.

Summers’ case is also attracting attention on Capitol Hill, including from Democrats opposed to Trump’s agenda. On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement to POLITICO that Summers “cannot be trusted” to advise institutions — presumably including OpenAI. On Tuesday, Warren sent a letter to top White House AI officials that urged the administration to prevent a “taxpayer bailout” of OpenAI.

One prominent tech lobbyist in Washington, granted anonymity to candidly discuss a fast-moving scandal, said OpenAI no longer has a clear reason to keep Summers on its board. But the lobbyist also suggested the Trump administration is likely using Summers as a distraction from the president’s own ties to Epstein.

Trump has denied wrongdoing in relation to the Epstein allegations, and no evidence has suggested that Trump took part in Epstein’s trafficking operation. The president also has maintained that he and Epstein had a falling out years ago.

“The Trump administration doesn't care that Larry Summers asked Jeffrey Epstein for dating advice,” said Niki Christoff, a tech consultant with stints at Salesforce and Google. “They care that he's been trashing their economic policy as ‘bizarre’ and ‘crazy dumb’ on cable news and in the New York Post.”

Christoff suggested the Summers scandal could be a sign of things to come, as Congress votes to release the Epstein files and potential new disclosures loom.

“My advice to OpenAI or anyone with an Epstein connection on their payroll: Batten the hatches and see what else surfaces,” said Christoff. “Be ready to apply the same standard across your organization. Will you actually fire a CEO or major investor?”

Christine Mui contributed to this report.