Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools have been in many domains of our learning, work, and everyday life. These GenAI tools can generate texts with remarkably high levels of accuracy in several languages. The speed of generation or machine translation and the accuracy level of the output are superior to many second-language writers. Already in the less than 2 years of its widespread use, GenAI has impacted language education and therefore computer-assisted language learning more than AI technologies such as natural-language processing and student modelling in the decades prior. Given the unceasing technological advances and their wider employment, these tools will continue to impact language learning in various ways. Broad questions and challenges of second-language use, learner motivation and agency, and assessment deserve renewed interest due to the changing digital environments and technologies. These questions will have to be addressed to continue to teach especially the written modality of a second language successfully.