The term "generative art" really has changed the last few years. The wave of interest in generative art a few years ago (along with NFTs) also involved a lot of art that wasn't directly created directly from code [0] and no one seemed to have much problem with it. It's not much of an active market lately, but at the time it was just a different type of generative art from stuff that is much more code-based [1].

[0] https://objkt.com/asset/hicetnunc/416966

[1] https://monogrid.xyz/