Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato’s parent company Eternal, has pitched his wearable Temple as a voice artificial intelligence (AI) companion that cannot hear anything but its wearer. In a letter posted on X, Goyal called it the “world’s first roomdeaf voice AI companion” and coined a name for the technology: roomdeaf audio.

Pre-orders for Temple opened on 1 November at ₹85,000 in India. Goyal says Temple 01 will ship in early 2027 with both AI and health features.

Temple first drew attention in January, when viewers spotted the device on Goyal’s temple during Raj Shamani’s podcast, which aired on January 3, 2026. It was then described mainly as a brain-health tracker. The new letter recasts it as a screen-free AI companion with health tracking built in.

According to Goyal, Temple’s motion sensors pick up the vibrations your voice creates and convert them into text. “Temple doesn’t have a mic, but can still hear you,” he wrote.

His argument is that a microphone “cannot choose who to listen to”, so it captures colleagues and bystanders along with the user. Temple, he says, never hears the room: a shout beside you does not reach the sensor. The letter offers no technical data or independent testing to support the claim.

There is no wake word and no app to open. You double-tap the device, a small buzz confirms it is listening, and a second buzz tells you it has finished. Goyal says using it “feels like nothing else”.

Temple sticks to the skin near the temple using medical-grade tapes called Grips.

Source link