: 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.

I'm not terribly distracted by her, but Frankie at one point did mention that she chose that representation with the intent of being distracting. More on that in a bit.

: 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?

In part, however no AI that I can recall appears in uniform, or is subject to a chain of command because they're tech, not people. Additionally, AI's are said to choose their own physical appearance as an act of expression.

: 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.

For Keyes (actually, both of them), it should have been pretty dang weird.

My point was that Cortana need not be clothed for any practical reasons (the reasons are all social/conventional). It's something of a coincidence that there's even reference to her appearance having a tactical purpose, given that's exactly what we're discussing with regard to Quiet.

[In passing, I'd like to say 'hashtag devil's advocate' because I still think Quiet is a ham-fisted play at eye candy, but only because of Kojima's track record]