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
scarborough_state_beach is a trail	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
instant_rice is a fruit	1111	06-jul-2018	99.4
medicated_lotions is a personal care product	1111	06-jul-2018	98.9
oval_desk is a kind of furniture	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
decision_tree_learning is an area of study within the field of machine learning	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
louisiana is a state that is bordered by the state texas	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
murray has been charged with involuntary_manslaughter	1115	03-sep-2018	100.0
newfoundland_and_labrador is a sate or province located in the country canada	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
swords is a type of weapon produced in china	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
the sports team indians was the winner of n1920_world_series	1116	12-sep-2018	98.4