Read the Web
Research Project at Carnegie Mellon University

NELL: Never-Ending Language Learning

Browse the Knowledge Base!

Can computers learn to read? We think so. "Read the Web" is a research project that attempts to create a computer system that learns over time to read the web. Since January 2010, our computer system called NELL (Never-Ending Language Learner) has been running continuously, attempting to perform two tasks each day:

• First, it attempts to "read," or extract facts from text found in hundreds of millions of web pages (e.g., playsInstrument(George_Harrison, guitar)).
• Second, it attempts to improve its reading competence, so that tomorrow it can extract more facts from the web, more accurately.

So far, NELL has accumulated over 50 million candidate beliefs by reading the web, and it is considering these at different levels of confidence. NELL has high confidence in 2,810,379 of these beliefs — these are displayed on this website. It is not perfect, but NELL is learning. You can track NELL's progress below or @cmunell on Twitter, browse and download its knowledge base, read more about our technical approach, or join the discussion group.

Recently-Learned Facts

instance	iteration	date learned	confidence
front_for_defenders_of_islam is a terrorist organization	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
spot_bellied_salamander is an amphibian	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
fifa_women__s_world_cup is an award, championship, or tournament trophy	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
unlined_paper is an office supply	1111	06-jul-2018	90.2
white_settlement_used_farm is a farm	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
chicken is an animal that eats jack	1113	15-aug-2018	93.8
football_players is a generalization of ladainian_tomlinson	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
john_quincy_adams and john_quincy_adams are siblings	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
raptors is a sports team that plays against chicago_bulls	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
saint_george_s is a city located in the geopolitical location grenada	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0