: 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.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't, literally, every other AI in every Halo context been clothed, or not humanoid? Serena in Halo Wars. Mack/Loki and Sif in Contact Harvest. Juliana from The Cole Protocol. Pallas Athena and Durga from ilovebees. Mo Ye from Midnight in the heart of Midlothia. The various AIs from Ghost of Onyx.

You say Cortana is not a rebel or freelancer, but isn't she, at least in a way? You're comparing her to "normal" AIs meant for things like running libraries, cargo operations, cities, and military ships. Cortana was never built to be normal or really even for human contact. Her entire goal was to break into networks, something that a digital intelligence doesn't really need to render an avatar for in the first place. Add in the fact that she was based on the already "troublesome" Halsey, and that she was pretty much had no rules placed on her and was allowed to go poking around in the UNSC's own networks, is it any surprise that she didn't feel the need to conform to standards that other AI's probably were required to?

Who was even going to see her if things had gone according to plan? On the Pillar of Autumn Cortana wasn't meant to be the ship's AI. The Covenant attack on Reach forced her into that role. If things had gone normally the PoA would have had its own AI which would have probably been required to keep its avatar within regulations.

But yeah… Keyes must have been pretty weirded out! :p