Factors Influencing ChatGPT Usage, AI Anxiety, and Learning Satisfaction: An Investigation of Teacher Aspirants’ Understanding of AI Anxiety and Ethical Concerns in Research-Based Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) has increasingly transformed education, with ChatGPT emerging as a widely used tool that supports student learning, collaboration, and research. Despite its promise, concerns remain regarding its usefulness, ethical implications, and potential for AI-related anxiety among learners. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing ChatGPT use, AI anxiety, and learning satisfaction among preservice teachers. Specifically, it examined perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, interaction with ChatGPT, information quality, interaction quality, collaborative learning, and learning motivation and their relationships with ChatGPT use, AI anxiety, and satisfaction. A descriptive-quantitative design was employed, utilizing survey questionnaires administered to 169 preservice teachers across five teacher education programs. The data were analyzed via descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation. The findings revealed that most constructs were rated at moderate levels, except for learning motivation, which was high, and perceived usefulness, which was weak. ChatGPT use was strongly positively correlated with learning motivation, whereas learning satisfaction was significantly related to information quality, collaborative learning, and motivation. AI anxiety was generally low but influenced how preservice teachers engaged with ChatGPT, often with caution and validation of outputs. The study concludes that while AI anxiety does not prevent ChatGPT adoption, it shapes how preservice teachers evaluate and engage with the tool. Structured training, clear guidelines, and collaborative learning opportunities are recommended to enhance perceptions of usefulness, promote responsible adoption, and strengthen learning satisfaction in teacher education.