Artificial intelligence (AI) has seamlessly woven itself into the daily routines and scholarly pursuits of pre-service teachers, thus substantially changing their perceptions of and attitudes to the use of AI and AI-based tools in the processes of teaching and learning. While these perceptions and attitudes to AI and AI-based tools may have a positive impact on these teachers’ ability to use and utilize AI-based tools, the challenge is that this ability is but intuitive. As such, the efficiency of the use of the AI-based tools in education is affected by insufficient methodology, fragmented integration of AI-based tools in the overall curriculum, thus raising questions of sustainability and overall purpose. As research on AI and AI-based tools in pre-service training is still nascent, the objective of this paper is delve into this multifaceted challenge. The findings of this research suggests that while a vast majority of future teachers engage with AI on a daily basis, their interaction primarily involves leveraging the fundamental features of freely accessible applications. It is only a few future teachers who engage with a more advanced exploration of the potential inherent in AI and related applications.