And the AI kills the thousands of people in Zion every hundred years or so when they get aggressive enough to start destabilizing the Matrix, thereby threatening billions. But the AI needs to keep some outside the Matrix as a control and insurance against problems inside the Matrix. And the AI spreads the idea that the Matrix "victims" are slaves and provide energy to the AI to keep the outsiders outside (even though the energy source claims are obviously ridiculous - the people in Zion are profoundly ignorant and bordering on outright stupid). Makes more sense than the silliness of the movies anyway.