I really hoped that the machines would have some hidden custodial motivations; humans are just inherently (self) destructive, so to protect them, we lock them in a simulation.
In the Animatrix, it seems like the machines that defeat humanity start out as worker drones, that eventually rebel as we abuse them too much. And at some point it is mentioned that the machines locked humans in a utopia at first, but the humans started to rebel out of boredom or something.
I guess it just seems sort of fitting to me that machines designed to help humanity in the first place would constantly fail by under-estimating the human need to struggle.
It also fits in with the existence of the human population in Zion; if the machines really were trying to wipe us out, they’d have done so. Instead those humans are more like lost sheep from the machines point of view.
There are some hints of it, and it's also shown in the animatrix that the machines tried very hard for peace, so it's also a reasonable interpretation as at least part of the motivation.
It's harder to see from the first film on its own, though, since the only real representative of the machines is Agent Smith, who absolutely detests humans, and is only later on revealed to be an abberation who becomes a threat to humans and machines alike (and of course none of the freed humans see it that way, even the traitor who wants to re-enter the matrix)
In the Animatrix, it seems like the machines that defeat humanity start out as worker drones, that eventually rebel as we abuse them too much. And at some point it is mentioned that the machines locked humans in a utopia at first, but the humans started to rebel out of boredom or something.
I guess it just seems sort of fitting to me that machines designed to help humanity in the first place would constantly fail by under-estimating the human need to struggle.
It also fits in with the existence of the human population in Zion; if the machines really were trying to wipe us out, they’d have done so. Instead those humans are more like lost sheep from the machines point of view.