If the BRI created the debt trap, China’s latest initiative risks creating a far more consequential tech trap. China and the United States remain locked in a managed competition across the Indo-Pacific, particularly over military access within the First Island Chain. Indonesia, for example, traditionally seeks to remain nonaligned in U.S.-China technology competition, yet Jakarta quickly endorsed Beijing’s new AI initiative. That narrative masks a broader objective: expanding Chinese technological influence by embedding AI throughout the digital infrastructure of emerging economies. If the Belt and Road Initiative created fears of debt dependence, AI Spark should become the United States’ answer to China’s emerging tech trap.