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
sound_spectrum is a perception event	1111	06-jul-2018	93.1
manganese_gluconate is a drug	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
n1_9_percentage_points is a machine-learning algorithm	1111	06-jul-2018	99.7
n30_shots is a weapon	1111	06-jul-2018	98.6
special_education_consultant is a kind of office held by a politician	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
eddie_mathews plays the sport baseball	1116	12-sep-2018	93.7
abraham and lot are siblings	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8
indira_gandhi_international_airport is an airport in the city delhi	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
hardrock is a tourist attraction in the city las_vegas	1116	12-sep-2018	93.8
rogaine is a drug having the side effect side_effects	1116	12-sep-2018	93.8