How does AI work at even the most basic level?

I just asked ChatGPT4 a very simple question: Who were the first five presidents of the United States? Here is its answer:

*****************************************************************
The first five presidents of the United States were:

1. **George Washington** (1789–1797)
2. **John Adams** (1797–1801)
3. **Thomas Jefferson** (1801–1809)
4. **James Madison** (1809–1817)
5. **James Monroe** (1817–1825)

They’re ssociated with the founding era of the U.S., and several of them were key figures in drafting foundational documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
************************************************************************

How did it manage to translate what I said into a database query? How did it know where in the database to look? Why did it list the years that each president served? Why did it list in chronological order and number each answer? What prompted it to give the additional information at the end? It all seems like magic to me.