B2190 words1:17Speech American AccentPublished Apr 29, 2026 · Updated Apr 29, 2026

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Cook stood on the same stage as his predecessor, noting that Steve Jobs' presence still fills the Apple campus.

He reminded the graduates that their world has been shaped by the digital foundations built on Steve's shoulders.

For years, the promise of Silicon Valley was to move fast and drive progress through bold new inventions.

Under this high-energy culture, the entire world was connected at a speed that once seemed completely impossible.

However, as things broke, user privacy became a casualty and public trust in the tech industry began to fade.

Cook argued that companies can no longer pretend that these serious social problems belong to someone else.

If you have built a powerful digital platform, you cannot dodge the consequences of how people use it.

"If you've built a chaos factory, you can't dodge responsibility for the chaos."

takers who extract value and builders who accept the weight of their creations.

#10

"Be a builder."

#11

Cook gave the generation of 2019 a charge to solve the massive challenges facing our modern society.

#12

He suggested that they should build with intention to ensure a better world for those who follow them.

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Tim Cook at Stanford: Be a Builder, Not a Taker