Balancing beliefs: exploring preservice teachers' generative artificial intelligence perceptions and intentions for practice

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT have rapidly entered educational contexts, raising questions about their affordances, limitations, and implications for teacher preparation. This qualitative, exploratory case study investigated preservice teachers' perceptions of ChatGPT across two sites in Los Angeles and Hawai'i, with 74 participants. Data were collected through surveys embedded in interactive learning modules and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated alignment in perceived affordances for both students and teachers, including idea generation, and the importance of knowing how to use tools properly. Participants also emphasized limitations such as risks of dependency, plagiarism, and exposure to bias or misinformation. While most preservice teachers expressed willingness to use ChatGPT in their future teaching, few supported future student use. Across responses, participants highlighted the need for training to ensure ethical and effective implementation. This study underscores the importance of integrating both technical and critical AI literacy into teacher education.