Good morning. Today, David Protein calls the bluff of ancestral-foods advocates; NBCUniversal thinks there might be something to this cable-TV thing; McDonald’s moves to put more of its business on ice; and you don’t need a chatbot to tell you who’s cashing in on AI already.

David Protein has begun selling frozen fillets of raw cod alongside its fudge brownie and blueberry pie bars, Megan Graham reports for CMO Today.

The company has won a following since introducing its protein bars last September, but has also heard criticism from some critics of processed food.

It is now selling four pieces of wild-caught Pacific cod sourced from a sustainable fishing company for $55 online, where it also charges $39 for a box of 12 bars.

“When we launched the protein bar, some of our critics were from the ancestral nutrition crowd,” said David co-founder and CEO Peter Rahal, who previously co-founded RXBAR and sold it to Kellogg for $600 million.

“Selling cod allowed us to address and respond to the criticism in a clever way,” Rahal said, saying it spotlights the bars’ convenience, price and taste. Read their full Q&A.

NBCUniversal is discussing launching a sports cable network that could debut as early as the fall, Joe Flint writes.

The channel would primarily carry sports that are also streamed on NBCU’s Peacock platform, people familiar with the matter said.

The talks are surprising because NBCU, like some other traditional media companies, has been grappling with viewers cutting the cord to cable and turning to streaming services. NBCU is in the process of spinning off most of its cable networks into a new company named Versant.

But live sports is among the most lucrative segments in TV, and hardcore sports fans are among cable’s stickiest.

Wait, is cable TV hot again? Jeff Bezos has been considering a possible effort to buy CNBC, according to a person familiar with his thinking. [NYP]

McDonald’s is gearing up to expand its menu with Creamy Vanilla Cold Brews, Popping Tropic Refreshers and other brightly colored, iced drinks, Heather Haddon reports.

McDonald’s plans to test-launch the range of coffees, refreshers and “dirty sodas”—spiked with add-ins such as dried fruit and flavored syrups—at several hundred of its U.S. restaurants in September.

The push is informed by McDonald’s experience with its drinks-centric, alien-themed spinoff CosMc’s, which shut down this year. Fast-food chains like Taco Bell and Wendy’s have been driving sales with premium drinks.

“The trends are all pointing in the same direction, and we can say that’s driven by Gen Z,” said McDonald’s beverage executive Charlie Newberger.

Note: “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” didn’t hurt.

Google’s parent company reported a 14% jump in year-over-year revenue, driven by growth in its cloud and search divisions that was tempered by heavy spending on artificial intelligence, Katherine Blunt writes.

Investors are getting restless over tech companies’ massive investments in AI, but Google is unusual because its cloud unit benefits from the AI boom right now as a seller of computing power. It has also overhauled its classic search engine in the U.S. with the May introduction of AI Mode.

How did that shake out for Alphabet in the second quarter?

• Cloud revenue rose 32%
• Search revenue grew 11.7%
• And total ad sales grew 10.4%.

Brands and publishers meanwhile are trying to figure out how to respond to a dawning era when consumers answer many questions with AI—see Patrick Coffee’s story from Tuesday to see how quickly it’s coming—and traditional search traffic veers toward “Google Zero.”

More: Is AI killing Google’s search business? Possibly the opposite. [WSJ]

Amazon is buying Bee, maker of a bracelet that transcribes everything you say all day and uses AI to turn it into summaries, searchable history and to-do lists. [WSJ]

Meta revealed a prototype wristband that lets wearers control computers by hand gesture—or just the intention. [NYT]

Uber will test a feature that allows female passengers and drivers to avoid being paired with men. [CNBC]

Why big marketers including Mars and Kraft Heinz are increasing their ad spending on Reddit. [Ad Age] 

Kentucky accused Temu of sharing sensitive data on its shoppers with the Chinese government, joining a handful of states challenging the fast fashion site in court. [WSJ]

Brands from Princess Polly to Primark are reinvigorating American malls in pursuit of an in-person presence. [Modern Retail]

Consider the significance of Ozzy Osbourne’s 2006 commercial for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. [Adweek]

Are the new “Wicked: For Good” posters rage bait? [Creative Bloq]