Artificial Intelligence Anxiety and Attitudes among Pre-Service and In-Service Physical Education Teachers: Addressing an Underserved Field in AI Education

Teachers’ attitudes and anxiety toward Artificial Intelligence (AI) play a crucial role in shaping how AI is adopted in Physical Education (PE) settings. This study aimed to compare the attitudes and anxiety levels of pre-service and in-service PE teachers and to examine the relationships among these variables. Using a descriptive–correlational design, data were gathered from 200 participants (100 pre-service and 100 in-service) through two standardized instruments: the General Attitudes toward Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS) and the Artificial Intelligence Anxiety Scale (AIAS). Results showed that teachers held moderately positive attitudes toward AI (M = 3,28, SD = 0,67) and experienced a moderate level of anxiety (M = 4,31, SD = 1,21). Among the four anxiety domains, Sociotechnical Blindness and Job Replacement recorded the highest means, reflecting concerns about AI misuse, malfunction, and potential job displacement. In-service teachers demonstrated slightly higher anxiety than pre-service teachers (r = ,181, p = ,010). Correlational analysis showed a weak positive relationship between teacher status and AI anxiety (r = ,181, p = ,010), a strong negative correlation between AI anxiety and negative attitude (r = –,512, p < .001), and a moderate positive correlation between AI anxiety and positive attitude (r = ,235, p < ,001).These findings suggest that PE teachers are cautiously optimistic about AI’s instructional potential while remaining aware of its ethical and occupational risks. Strengthening AI literacy, ethical training, and professional development is recommended to promote confident and responsible AI integration in physical education.