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
expose_shower_mixer is an item often found in a bathroom	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
precision_mould is a fungus	1111	06-jul-2018	93.4
sam_houston_national_cemetery is a place of worship	1112	24-jul-2018	99.9
desk_customers is an item found on the floor	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
wigmore_street is a street	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
weill_recital_hall is a tourist attraction in the city new_york	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
peter_d__hart_research_associates is headquartered in the state or province washington	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
ti has acquired national_semiconductor	1114	25-aug-2018	93.8
andre_miller is a person also known as miller002	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
newyork_presbyterian_hospital is a hospital in the city new_york	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0