Eternal, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, intends to launch its privacy-focused artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Dark.AI, globally by the end of 2026. In a letter to shareholders for the second quarter of fiscal year 2027, Eternal's founder, Dipinder Goyal, stated that the platform is being developed for users who wish to discuss sensitive ideas, conduct research, and ask sensitive questions to AI without fear of their conversations being accessed by third parties.
Goyal wrote that Dark is designed for advanced users—such as scientists, researchers, governments, and enterprises—who value privacy as a foundation of competitiveness. In addition to ensuring confidentiality, the models have been refined to provide the highest quality responses among all large language models (LLMs). He added that the global launch of Dark is expected within 2026.
The letter indicated that Dark will utilize custom-tuned, next-generation open-source AI models and operate on Eternal's proprietary infrastructure. The platform will feature end-to-end encryption and a user-controlled encrypted memory management layer. Goyal emphasized that the platform's design prevents the company from reading user correspondence.
Impact of AI on Eternal's Business
Commenting on the impact of AI on Eternal's own businesses, Goyal stated that AI agents pose a limited threat to Zomato and Blinkit. He reasoned that the order fulfillment infrastructure of these two businesses gives them an advantage over platforms that primarily facilitate transactions.
Responding to concerns that AI agents might become the standard interface for e-commerce, Goyal noted that the risk of disintermediation varies depending on the business. While the District platform, which covers restaurant discovery, booking, and event ticket sales, faces a medium-high risk, Zomato and Blinkit are in a more advantageous position due to control over the infrastructure required for order fulfillment.
He also argued that food ordering heavily depends on the discovery process, as consumers spend time browsing menus and images rather than simply completing a transaction. According to internal company surveys, over 65 percent of Zomato app openings are exploratory, with users viewing an average of 12 menus and more than 100 product images before placing an order.
Goyal countered the common belief that agents will become the primary trading interface, asserting: 'Users who spend time ordering food, this is not a flaw in Zomato, it is a feature.' He concluded that food delivery and quick commerce depend on real-time coordination between restaurants, delivery partners, inventory systems, and payments, making them harder to disintermediate than businesses that mainly aggregate existing offerings. The further a transaction is from real-time multilateral coordination, the easier it is to eliminate intermediaries.