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
click_art is a physical action	1111	06-jul-2018	92.5
international_raiffeisen_grand_prix is a sporting event	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
palestinian_authority_mahmoud_abbas is a terrorist organization	1111	06-jul-2018	99.5
linen___towels is an item often found in a bathroom	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
united_states_postal_service is a retail store	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
bon_secours is a hospital in the city richmond	1116	12-sep-2018	93.8
salve_regina_university is a sports team that plays in the league international	1116	12-sep-2018	96.9
the country the_united_kingdom uses the currency pounds	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
dc is a city also known as chicago_south	1113	15-aug-2018	93.8
manny_diaz is the leader of the city miami	1116	12-sep-2018	98.6