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
hot_deviled_crab is a crustacean	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
cutlery_set is an item found in the kitchen	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
plantation_style_shutters is something found in or on buildings	1111	06-jul-2018	98.9
p_anisyl_alcohol is a chemical	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
badlands can be a part of a landscape	1111	06-jul-2018	98.4
calibrating_the_world_s_photos_with_a_massive_3d_database is part of vasc_sminar	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
detroit_lions is a sports team also known as former_green_bay_packers	1113	15-aug-2018	99.6
insects is an animal that preys on spiders	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
football_players is a generalization of favre	1113	15-aug-2018	100.0
verizon_center is a stadium or event venue located in the city washington_d_c_	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0