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
eerie_yellow_glow is a perception event	1111	06-jul-2018	97.9
mastalgia_worcester_cathedral_st__peter_s_priory is a place of worship	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
la_vicaria_arch_bridge is a bridge	1111	06-jul-2018	97.1
variegated_ornamental_grasses is a plant	1111	06-jul-2018	99.2
phi_phi_group is a geopolitical entity that is a location	1111	06-jul-2018	92.4
berkshire_hathaway is a company in the economic sector of insurance	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
cuthbert_scott belongs to the religion roman_catholic	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
john_stossel is a person who belongs to the organization abc_news	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
the sports team new_york_mets was the winner of nlcs	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
anne_perry wrote the book defend_and_betray	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0