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
life_guard is a profession	1111	06-jul-2018	98.7
middle_white_layer_of_superior_colliculus is a kind of brain tissue	1111	06-jul-2018	98.8
bayberry_road is a street	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
comment_about is software used by machine-learning scientists	1112	24-jul-2018	99.3
home_work_home is a location	1112	24-jul-2018	99.2
bush_administration has been charged with crimes	1115	03-sep-2018	100.0
plain_water is a beverage made from juices	1111	06-jul-2018	96.9
bernie_mac is a person who died at the age of 50	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
kim_il_sung is a person who died on the date n1994	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
columbia_presbyterian is a hospital in the city new_york	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0