1 : studious inquiry or examination especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws

2 : the collecting of information about a particular subject

3 : careful or diligent search

Nothing here requires human understanding to be the goal. In fact, it explicitly calls out "practical applications" as one of the purposes that can be aimed at.

The whole field of applied mathematics is for the purpose of finding practical applications. Therefore any research conducted in this field is not for the exclusive purpose of human understanding or knowledge.

I'm not complaining, you're just restricting the definition of mathematics research in order to discredit what the AI labs have achieved.