I’m not 100% sure how the process works. However, I think that the ‘mining’ part deals with the introduction of new bitcoins into the system - analogous to the way gold ore is turned into new gold coins. Bitcoin transactions may be an entirely different deal altogether - more like verifying credit card transactions.
After the latest halving event, miners have been getting a shot at fewer coins as reward for work done. That encourages them look for other more profitable uses for their physical plant. As an aside, the hardware (chip sets) used to support AI might be different from bitcoin mining hardware. It’s just that the miners already have a large facility that can supply stable power with large amounts of cooling for machines that do other tasks for a better return on investment.
If someone who reads this statement knows for sure, I am very willing to become better educated.
“BTC “mining” IS the process of verifying transactions...once a “block” of transactions is “cryptographically solved” then the miner is rewarded with (currently) 3.125 Bitcoins. There are also transactions fees involved that miners get. (Like credit card processing fees).