What can process-oriented research tell us about AI-assisted writer agency and learning?

In this response to Ken Hyland’s (2026) focus paper, Writing in the AI era, I discuss several recent studies that exemplify the type of research that Hyland argues we need more of, namely, studies of AI use across varying L2 writing proficiencies and contexts. More specifically, I focus on how these studies help to clarify and complicate our understanding of AI’s impact on writer agency and learning.