A database doesn't recite or apply knowledge, it stores knowledge.

It sure recites it when I query it

It makes perfect sense to say that the database understands your query. It also makes sense to say that the database's factorization of domain knowledge + domain queries exhibit at least a static domain understanding (which still isn't general ala AGI). This is the standard systems response to the Chinese Room.

The "general" part comes from whether that static aspect can be made dynamic and extensible. In what sense is a system that can be arbitrarily extended to "recite" or "apply" knowledge not AGI?

I would say that the database processes my query, not understands it. You reference the Chinese Room, but that's the thing. The Chinese Room processes the inputs without understanding them.

> The Chinese Room processes the inputs without understanding them.

I disagree, hence my reference to the systems response.