Examining the Association Between Teacher Education Students’ AI Literacy and Digital Competence in Educational Internship

This study examined the association between teacher education students’ artificial intelligence (AI) literacy and their digital competence during educational internships. Grounded in the AI-TPACK framework, the study explored to what extent the three dimensions of AI literacy, AI Knowledge (AIK), AI Affectivity (AIA), and AI Thinking (AIT) affect five dimensions of digital competence: Digital Technology Proficiency (DTP), Digital Teaching Competence (DTC), Digital Learning and Innovation (DLI), Digital Values (DV), and Digital Personality Traits (DPT). Based on the survey data collected from 304 teacher education students, the findings revealed that AIA, reflecting positive attitudes and confidence toward AI, was the strongest predictor across all dimensions of digital competence. In contrast, AIK, representing theoretical knowledge about AI, showed no significant predictive effect, while AIT significantly predicted only DTP, DTC, and DLI. These findings suggest that teacher education programs must emphasize the affective and cognitive aspects of AI literacy and practical experiences to cultivate comprehensive digital competence among future educators effectively.