: Cortana's appearance is appropriate. She requires no clothing for
: protection or comfort. Her appearance isn't necessarily sexualized; the
: very same features you'd probably call "sexy" are just as much a
: visual representation of nurturing. I'm not saying that's the idea 343 was
: going for with Cortana; you'd have to be pretty dense not to know how she
: would be received by many/most male gamers - but there's a fitness to her
: lack of (digital) clothing.

: Ellis probably assumes Quiet is supposed to be a warrior, and what little she
: does wear seems to support that notion. That being the case, he probably
: sees her attire not just as a completely illogical and ill-serving choice
: for a warrior, but also a ham-fisted play at eye-candy.

Cortana also works in a professional military environment. Nakedness doesn't seem to be wide spread in that institution the 2550s from what we've seen. Such clothless representations don't even seem to be common among AIs. Her representation has become increasingly distracting for players and we can assume that characters in the universe would also be distracted. If not by the nakedness proper, then by simply standing out amongst other humanoids in the workplace.

If we take the Halo 4 representation as the 'canon' version, then I'd be extremely surprised if no-one in-universe asked her to choose something more appropriate to the workplace. She is not, after all, some sort of rebel or free-lancer.

Furthermore, the very idea of visual representations and vocal communication is to make humans feel more comfortable interacting with the AIs, NOT for the AI's 'self-expression.' Or is the UNSC so hypocritical that they'll strictly enforce dress codes on humans (making some of them even look exactly the same! ;) ) but it'd be too impolite to ask an AI to change it's representation?

Was it never weird for Captain Jacob Keyes to have a younger, naked, version of his former lover strutting around the deck of his ship? Or is he just kinky like that?

This is making less sense the more I think about it.