In AI research there are different branches with different goals and motivations. You have applied research, where the goal is to engineer systems that are bett

In AI research there are different branches with different goals and motivations. You have applied research, where the goal is to engineer systems that are better at soving certain needs. You also have scientific endeavours, usually interdisciplinary, typically crossed with biology, psychology and philosophy, where AI models are created and used as models of understanding human or animal intelligence. The former is where as you describe where better understanding of biology might help but is not a prerequisite for progress, but in the latter it is not just needed but the goal. Now I know this is a bit of a caricature as both of these disciplines are in practice poorly deliniated and often intermixed. It's easy to find hubristic examples to mock on both sides, but there's value and brilliance to be found in each respectively as well.