> 'He' is sometimes used in this fashion, but it is an uncommon use
It may be partly due to my background (I studied law [in the UK], and it is law that all statutes refering to 'he' be read in a gender-neutral fashion unless it is clear that the opposite is intended[0]), but I never assume that 'he' refers to a man unless that is obvious from the context. The gender-neutral usage of 'he' is fairly widespread.
[0] FWIW, the updated Interpretation Act (from 1978) applied the same to 'she', though I don't recall ever reading a statute that used 'she' as the gender-neutral term.
It may be partly due to my background (I studied law [in the UK], and it is law that all statutes refering to 'he' be read in a gender-neutral fashion unless it is clear that the opposite is intended[0]), but I never assume that 'he' refers to a man unless that is obvious from the context. The gender-neutral usage of 'he' is fairly widespread.
[0] FWIW, the updated Interpretation Act (from 1978) applied the same to 'she', though I don't recall ever reading a statute that used 'she' as the gender-neutral term.