Zomato-parent Eternal's founder Deepinder Goyal has pushed back against growing fears around artificial intelligence (AI) disrupting consumer internet businesses, arguing that AI is more of an enabler than a threat to companies like his.

In his shareholder letter, Goyal said concerns that AI interfaces could replace apps as the primary gateway for commerce are overblown, pointing to past attempts by large platforms that failed to dislodge entrenched consumer habits.

“Some people wonder whether AI chat interfaces will become the new front door for commerce, shifting demand away from apps like ours,” Goyal wrote. 

Drawing a parallel with Google’s earlier push into transactions, he added, “Google spent over a decade trying to pull transactional behaviour into its own platform… And yet Booking.com is still here. Expedia is still here. Amazon is still here.” 

According to Goyal, the core issue lies in the nature of consumer behaviour and the complexity of transactions. “General-purpose interfaces are good for general-purpose queries. They are poor interfaces for complex, high-frequency, habitual transactions,” he said. 

He emphasised that ordering food is not a simple interaction, but one that involves multiple steps such as discovery, comparison, substitution and real-time tracking, areas where specialised apps still hold an edge.

More importantly, Goyal argued that deeply ingrained user habits and brand recall make disruption difficult. “Consumer behaviour is the hardest thing in the world to change,” he said, adding that frequent users are “not going to reroute those habits through a chat window.” 

Instead of viewing AI as a competitive threat, Goyal framed it as a tool that strengthens Zomato’s business. “AI is our friend, not a threat,” he said, outlining how the company is already deploying AI across demand prediction, logistics, fraud detection and customer experience. 

He added that the bigger opportunity lies in market expansion rather than cost savings. “The more important question is not how AI helps us reduce cost… The sharper question we ask ourselves is: how does AI expand the market?” 

Goyal said that AI can lower barriers for participation across the ecosystem, from customers and delivery partners to restaurants and small businesses, by simplifying discovery, onboarding and operations.

“At this point, we believe there is nothing to panic about,” he said, while acknowledging that the company will continue to monitor developments in “agentic commerce” and adapt where needed.