If you go to startup pitch events, you've seen it happen: An entrepreneur says something--something so naïve, egregious and hackneyed--that it makes the investors, along with educators who are now increasingly in the audience, physically cringe. As funders wince and squirm uncomfortably, some are thinking along the lines of: "How do I respond to this pitch genuinely without coming off like a jerk?" In the interest of fixing this problem at the source, I reached out to some of the advisors and investors in the Dreamit Edtech network to get their "lemon lists" of concepts, statements, and business models that edtech entrepreneurs may want to think twice--or thrice--about. These are not inherently "bad ideas" per se. It's just that the investor community have seen tons of these, and in order to impress you need to jump right to what makes your approach a quantum level better than everything else out there.

Two and a half years ago, President Obama called on the FCC to classify broadband internet as a utility. It joined a small club that you know well: electricity, gas, and running water. And now this club may be welcoming yet another new member. Is artificial intelligence the newest utility? Are we witnessing the dawn of AI being as ubiquitous as running water?

Welcome to your Friday morning. As we prepare to phone in the rest of the day, read about how a lensless camera is possible with math, how car buyers aren't quite sold on autonomous vehicles, and how one company's working on a Photoshop for your voice. While phones get thinner, there's one spot that keeps sticking out: the camera lens. Taking good pictures and being able to focus at multiple distances requires a layer of glass that's a certain size, but there's really no getting around it -- or is there? Researchers at Caltech have devised an "optical phased array" chip that uses math as a substitute for a lens.

Facebook is encouraging users to counter hate speech online, with the UK launch of its Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI) in the UK. The social network says it wants to promote "the civil courage displayed by organisations and grassroots activists", in order to tackle online extremism. Technology companies were fiercely criticised by Theresa May in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack, and were accused of providing terrorists with "safe spaces" online. Facebook was quick to defend its efforts, but has since tried to step them up. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.

During the jungle primary they identified him with unpopular party leader Nancy Pelosi, and portrayed him as just another liberal. The Republicans also used Ossoff's own TV ad against him to highlight the fact that he did not support repealing Obamacare, and remind voters that Ossoff does not live in the district. Also during the jungle primary – Republicans used residents of the district to accuse Ossoff of lying about his credentials, and they again reinforced the branding of him as a Pelosi liberal who'd raise taxes and weaken the military. Straight after the primary, they ran a contrast ad -- framing Ossoff as a carpetbagging Hollywood/Pelosi liberal and Handel as a "proven fighter for Georgia." National security played a surprisingly heavy role in the messaging given Ossoff had never taken a vote that could be used against him.

The PSA Group's first fully-autonomous cars will reach market in 2020, after semi-autonomous systems are offered on the DS 7 Crossback next year. The first PSA car with'hands-off' Level 2 autonomous system will be the DS 7 Crossback SUV, which is due for launch early in 2018. The Citroën C5 Aircross will follow suit in the second half of 2018 after launching in China at the end of this year. Equipped with a Level 2 system called Connected Pilot, the 7 Crossback will be capable of maintaining lane and choosing station to the left or right of the lane to allow cycles or motorcycles to pass. It will also be equipped with self-parking without any intervention by the driver, initiated by pressing a button on the centre console.

Artificial intelligence is finding its way into the world of music, literature and art, raising never-before-considered questions about a creators' role. A team led by Shigeki Sagayama, professor of mathematical engineering and information physics at Meiji University, has created software that can compose a melody to accompany any given lyric. Available for use online, the automatic composition software, named Orpheus, has produced hundreds of thousands of pieces of music since its launch in 2007. Sagayama has developed a method to produce melodies based on the cadence of the Japanese language. He said AI works well in the field of musical composition as the established theories, rules and systems -- such as harmonics -- make programming feasible. Orpheus users can set the parameters to their preferences, ensuring various aspects like pitch and beat patterns reflect the character of the music they wish to produce, he said.

One of China's largest state-owned lenders is to set up a fintech lab with one of the world's largest internet and gaming companies. Bank of China (BOC) and Tencent have established a joint financial technology laboratory, the lender said in a statement this week. The lab will work on cloud computing, big data, blockchain and artificial intelligence to promote financial innovations.

Commercial supersonic air travel could return in just half a decade after a Richard Branson-backed company aiming to replace the concord announced it will begin test flights next year. Boom Supersonic has said initial test flights for its 1,451mph (2,330kph) aircraft, nicknamed the'baby boom', will begin by the end of 2018, with both subsonic and supersonic tests taking place in the US. Supersonic flight tests will be conducted near Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California in partnership with Virgin Galactic's The Spaceship Company. If the firm's full-sized, 55-seater aircraft is approved, the first passengers could be making a supersonic journey across the Atlantic by 2023 at a top speed more than 100mph (160km/h) faster than the infamous Concorde. Boom Supersonic has said initial test flights for its 1,451mph (2,330kph) aircraft, nicknamed the'baby boom', will begin by the end of 2018, with both subsonic and supersonic tests taking place in the US.

One particularly arresting moment in William Gibson's cyberpunk classic, Neuromancer, occurs toward the end when Case, the protagonist, meets the eponymous and anthropomorphized AI face-to-face: You're the one who wants to stop Wintermute. The boy did a handstand in the surf, laughing. He walked on his hands, then flipped out of the water…"To call up a demon you must learn its name. Men dreamed that, once, but now it is real in another way. "Neuromancer," the boy said, slitting long gray eyes against the rising sun…"Neuro from the nerves, the silver paths.