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
master_bath_tub is an item often found in a bathroom	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
standard_silver is a visualizable attribute	1111	06-jul-2018	90.7
to_whom_it_may_concern_bee_gees_album is a musical album	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
verichron_clock is an item found on a wall	1111	06-jul-2018	99.5
mid_continent_college is a university	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
rover is a specific automobile maker dealer in _uk	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
the sports leage nba uses the venue madison_square_garden	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
president_reagan is a politician who holds the office of former_assistant_secretary	1115	03-sep-2018	96.9
tart is a beverage made from juice	1113	15-aug-2018	96.9
chicken is an animal that eats cranberry_sauce	1115	03-sep-2018	96.9