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Why are there only three Agents at a time in the Matrix?


In all of the Matrix movies, we only see three Agents at a time (Brown, Jones and Smith in the original and Jackson, Johnson and Thompson in the sequels).


Why are there only three? The Matrix being a software system, loading new instances of programs should be trivial for the machines rather than having three instances running around trying to catch both rebels and exiles. I can understand why three would be enough before Neo, but after the defeat of Agent Smith in the first movie, the machines could have increased the number.


Or, are there actually more than three, say in other parts of the world within the Matrix? If rebels show up in China, would Agents that look like Chinese secret service agents (probably called Ching, Ling and Wong) pursue them?



Answer



Based on an answer from Why didn't the Agents take over or displace the Policemen?:



As best I remember, once a person is taken over, they're gone. If cops disappear every time Agents show up, it'll make it harder and harder to work with them. It'll lead to cops trying to handle the situations themselves and trying to keep Agents out of the picture.




Three agents is probably a number the Matrix came up with after some trial-and-error: A good balance of "man"power while keeping the number of disappearing people low.


The Matrix does seem to regularly upgrade the Agents after major events:



After Neo's transfiguration into The One, the Matrix retrieves agents Brown and Jones and deploys the upgraded agents Jackson, Johnson, and Thompson. The One's special abilities make defeating any agent, upgraded or not, practically effortless in comparison to any redpill that attempts to do so.


After the Matrix rebooted, newer forms of Agents came into existence, including the Red-Eye Agents. Another agent that was introduced into the Matrix was Agent Pace, the first female agent.



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