Artificial intelligence (AI) represents an important technological breakthrough of the last decades, which will further shape the way of working both in Slovenia and around the world in the future. Although it presents some opportunities to improve work efficiency in education, it also presents a challenge regarding the use of AI in the school system. Based on this, we were interested in how concerns about the use of AI among their students differ between younger and older secondary school teachers. Concern is defined as an emotional state characterized by discomfort, feelings of fear and nervous tension. We included 382 teachers from all regions in Slovenia, aged between 24 and 73 years, separated into two groups of „younger“ (up to 39 years old) and „older“ (40 years or more) teachers. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the level of concern about the use of AI among their students between groups of younger and older teachers. As the most common concern, both groups of teachers cited AI’s promotion of non-critical intake of information and concerns about the lack of basic competencies and knowledge of students due to the use of AI. Younger teachers highlighted concerns about plagiarism, while older teachers also cited concerns related to the lack of students’ autonomy. To manage the concerns that teachers have regarding the use of AI, they cite various constructive and non-constructive coping strategies. The study‘s findings are important for the design of new educational policies and programs that would promote awareness of benefits and pitfalls of using AI in education. The focus should be on empowering teachers with the knowledge and tools to successfully address the use of AI in their work.
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