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
roseland_theater is a building	1111	06-jul-2018	94.7
facts_engineering is an area of study within the field of machine learning	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
sensory_neuropathy is a physiological condition	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
former_test is a medical procedure	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
de_brabantse_pijl_la_fl_che_braban_onne is a sports race	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
joseph has brother benjamin	1116	12-sep-2018	99.8
spiders is an arthropod that feeds on mites	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
n6_08_pm is the time of the event strong_earthquake_shakes_northern_thailand	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
dan graduated from dakota_wesleyan_university	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8
methuselah is the father of lamech_seven_hundred	1113	15-aug-2018	93.8