I am not sure how PI network creators are making (or going to make) any profit, maybe it is as simple as riding on crypto hype - people install it on mobile and every day have to start mining again (already ridiculous) - but at that time ads pop up - and this is the source of the profit for PI creators maybe.
I do not think it is mining on my/your phone anything at all.
if you look at mining speed - it increases depending on number of people in you circle (who use you as a reference), your role (ambassador or other), and your security circle.
Speed increased from 0.12 Pi per hour to 0.31 Pi per hour after 3 first days and by adding people from your circle to your security circle! Pi app on the phone almost does not consume any power... so ... What does it do actually? I think nothing.
If you want to try it out - open on your smart phone https://minepi.com/ , install Pi, can use reference alex27pi or any other you can find by googling.