Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal's 'Temple' Device Draws Ire, AIIMS Doctor Calls It A 'Toy'

A fresh online flare-up around Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal’s “Temple” wearable has shifted the conversation from curiosity to credibility, after an AIIMS doctor publicly dismissed the device as a “toy” and questioned the scientific framing around it.

The device first drew wider attention after Goyal appeared wearing it during Raj Shamani’s podcast, with viewers trying to figure out what looked like a small, metallic, clip-like sensor placed near his temple. Goyal has described Temple as an experimental prototype meant to measure “brain flow” in real time and continuously, positioning it as part of a broader personal research effort rather than a Zomato consumer product.

However, according to Dr. Datta, who is a radiologist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, this device has “0 scientific standing” as a useful medical tool. Citing the lack of any clinical data to support the viability of the device, Datta wrote on X, saying, “As A fresh online flare-up around Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal’s “Temple” wearable has shifted the conversation from curiosity to credibility, after an AIIMS doctor publicly dismissed the device as a “toy” and questioned the scientific framing around it.”​

What is the temple device?

The device first drew wider attention after Goyal appeared wearing it during Raj Shamani’s podcast, with viewers trying to figure out what looked like a small, metallic, clip-like sensor placed near his temple. Goyal has described Temple as an experimental prototype meant to measure “brain flow” in real time and continuously, positioning it as part of a broader personal research effort rather than a Zomato consumer product. In one of his previous interactions, Goyal claimed that gravity plays an important role in human ageing, and this device helps measure the blood flow to understand human longevity.

"I'm not sharing this as the CEO of Eternal, but as a fellow human, curious enough to follow a strange thread. A thread I can't keep with myself any longer. It's open-source, backed by science, and shared with you as part of our common quest for scientific progress on human longevity. Newton gave us a word for it. Einstein said it bends spacetime. I am saying gravity shortens lifespan," he said in a post on X previously.

Why the controversy?

What has amplified scrutiny is the gap between the ambition of the claim and the public details available so far. Temple is not on sale, has no announced pricing, no confirmed launch timeline, and no publicly stated regulatory pathway, according to reports. That lack of clarity has made it easier for critics to frame the wearable as a hype object, and for supporters to frame it as an early-stage health-tech experiment.

The product narrative also hinges on architecture choices that sound consumer-friendly but raise medical-device questions. Reports, citing medical experts, say Temple shifts inputs to a separate initiative linked to Goyal and describe it as a prototype being developed under a health-tech startup also called Temple, associated with his privately funded research initiative. 

For now, Temple remains a public prototype with an unusually prominent founder-marketing cycle, and the debate is likely to persist until there’s verifiable clinical validation, clearer measurement methodology, and transparency on how or whether it plans to navigate regulation before any broader rollout.

Read more: How AI Has Skewed Narrative of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s Capture by Donald Trump