I mean, there's always the choice of splitting from The Culture and taking with you non-sentient AIs... In one of the books there's a guy who did just that, but

I mean, there's always the choice of splitting from The Culture and taking with you non-sentient AIs... In one of the books there's a guy who did just that, but he keeps talking to the air, perfectly convinced the Minds were still monitoring them (which they might or might not do). As for Special Circumstances... it's Special Circumstances.