It’s more like the definition of “alien” broadened.
It started out in the 1960’s meaning “humans with pointy ears and no emotions”, then in the 1980’s it was “squat humanoids with glowing fingers and a penchant for phoning home”, then in the 1990-2000 it was “infectious microbes that turn humans into zombies”. We pretty much all realized that the “life” part of “alien life” spans the entire breadth of what biology can produce. (The 2020’s even reduced it further to “RNA sequence which connects the entire human race except 13 folks into a vast hive mind”)
Widen the concept enough and lots more scientists will go “yeah something like thst that probably exists elsewhere, sure”
It started out in the 1960’s meaning “humans with pointy ears and no emotions”, then in the 1980’s it was “squat humanoids with glowing fingers and a penchant for phoning home”, then in the 1990-2000 it was “infectious microbes that turn humans into zombies”. We pretty much all realized that the “life” part of “alien life” spans the entire breadth of what biology can produce. (The 2020’s even reduced it further to “RNA sequence which connects the entire human race except 13 folks into a vast hive mind”)
Widen the concept enough and lots more scientists will go “yeah something like thst that probably exists elsewhere, sure”