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
bendix_drive is a highway	1111	06-jul-2018	92.9
bath_tub_doors is something found in or on buildings	1111	06-jul-2018	98.5
david_findley is a criminal	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
burrs_pond is a lake	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
n07_06_2008 is a date	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
chad_hurley is a person who belongs to the organization youtube	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
insects is a type of bug	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
ectoparasites is an animal that preys on lice	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
passavant is a hospital in the city jacksonville	1116	12-sep-2018	95.3
football_players is a generalization of favre	1113	15-aug-2018	100.0