Audio AI services present an opportunity to conceptualise smart buildings in a new light. Microphones can capture fine-grained audio information that can be used for determining how many people are inside of a building, where they are, and what kinds of activities are taking place. This information can feed into smart resource management systems or it could be used for assistive technologies. Generally speaking, audio is regarded as a less intrusive type of information collection than video surveillance, but significant issues of privacy and security persist with audio capture. Such issues warrant a serious discussion about how safe it is to use audio-capture in smart buildings for AI decision-making. This position paper initiates a discussion of research directions for the safety of audio services related to three key areas: data degradation strategies, dynamic customisation of tools, and privacy-aware technologies. In each area, we identify key challenges and highlight solution concepts with the potential to address the issue.
CCS CONCEPTS• Security and privacy → Social aspects of security and privacy; • Computing methodologies → Adversarial learning; Speech recognition; • Computer systems organization → Embedded software.