Educational Horizons: Mapping the Terrain of Artificial Intelligence Integration in Bulgarian Educational Settings

The role of artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) has recently become a major topic of discussion and future planning. This article presents data from a large-scale survey involving 1463 Bulgarian educators in primary, secondary, and high schools. The results revealed that 70.30% of the teachers were familiar with or somewhat familiar with the existence of AI applications. Chatbots were the most popular among the surveyed teachers, with ChatGPT ranking as the most familiar. The teachers were almost equally split between those who reported use and those who declared nonuse of AI technology for instructional purposes. A significant association was found between the teachers' familiarity with and use of AI technology and their age-related generational traits. The younger educators (up to 40 years of age) were associated with higher use of AI technology as a support tool for creating lesson plans, lesson content, tests, and exams. The outlined tendencies can be used to inform policy, professional development, and future research in the realm of AI-driven education.