AI could have halved Zomato’s 18-year journey: Deepinder Goyal in chat with OpenAI’s Sam Altman

Artificial intelligence (AI) is dramatically compressing the time it takes to build and scale startups, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Eternal founder Deepinder Goyal said while speaking at an event organised by the ChatGPT maker.

They outlined how AI is reshaping startup journeys and product development cycles. Both founders underscored that AI is no longer just an add-on feature but a foundational layer that is reshaping how companies are built and scaled.

Goyal said today AI could have cut the company’s 18-year journey by more than half. “It took us about 18 years to get here. It would have maybe taken seven or eight years to get where we are today,” he said, adding how AI tools are accelerating both product and engineering execution.


On the other hand, Altman said the current AI cycle has made it easier for startups to compete with large incumbents. “It seems right now that everything is open,” he said, adding that startups can now move faster and operate at lower costs in ways that were previously not possible.

Goyal who has now stepped down from his CEO position from the company said Zomato has been able to ship features he had envisioned for over a decade. He said AI has enabled Zomato to roll out features that were previously too complex to execute at scale.

“For instance, the company can now add nutritional “macros on every dish” and continuously run multiple algorithms in real time to improve accuracy and personalisation,” he said.

He also pointed to changes in user onboarding. Earlier, form-based systems created friction, especially for users facing language barriers. “With AI, Zomato has shifted to chat-based enrolment flows, making it easier for more users to access and complete processes on the platform,” Goyal said.

On India, Altman said while it is difficult to predict which specific skills will matter in the future, qualities such as ambition, adaptability and a belief in growth will be critical. He noted that India’s developer and startup ecosystem already possesses many of these traits, positioning it well to benefit from the AI shift.

In conversation with ET, Altman said he is particularly excited about the “emergent properties” that could arise as large numbers of AI agents begin interacting with each other. “We’ve already seen some of this with things that have happened with OpenClaw, but I think there’s much more in that direction to come,” he said. “If you ask me this week, that’s the most exciting area.”

Open AI recently hired Peter Steinberger, the founder of OpenClaw, to drive the next generation of personal ‌agents.

EOM