<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly become part of teachers' instructional practice, yet the specific roles AI plays in lesson planning, the challenges teachers face when using it, and how teachers perceive its usefulness and ease of use remain underexplored among junior high school English teachers in Indonesia. This study explored these three issues among three English teachers at SMPN 1 Bukittinggi, drawing on a synthesized framework of AI's roles in lesson planning, Ertmer's (1999) first and second order barriers, and the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989). A qualitative case study design was employed because it allowed an in-depth exploration of AI use within its real and bounded context rather than testing predetermined variables across a large sample. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis of the teachers' AI chat histories over approximately two and a half months, then analyzed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-phase thematic analysis, producing 84 coded excerpts grouped into 11 codes and six overarching themes. The findings showed that AI performed four interrelated roles, namely idea generator, structural scaffolder, content refiner, and reflective partner, with teachers consistently treating AI's suggestions as proposals rather than final answers. The challenges encountered included platform-imposed limitations, informal training, and largely unformalized institutional support, alongside individual confidence and data privacy concerns. Teachers' perceptions of usefulness and ease of use were generally positive, though shaped by each teacher's own threshold of what counted as genuinely beneficial. The study concludes that AI has become a meaningful support in lesson planning that remains firmly mediated by the teacher's own professional judgment.]]>
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