Yes, I'm aware that ML is a field of computer math artificial intelligence. But purposefully trotting that out is tantamount to doing unpaid work for Sam Altman at this point since in parlance nearly everyone uses "AI" as shorthand for modern generative AI systems as well as the hype itself.
Which thus...no, it wasn't called AI before, it was generally referred to as machine learning or neural networks with that implying it was AI (math) before it became labeled as AI (hype).
This feels like really unnecessary pedantry.