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
unusual_cells is a type of biological cell	1111	06-jul-2018	94.1
linton_zoological_gardens is an aquarium	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
poker_nicknames is a cardgame	1111	06-jul-2018	91.8
parlor_clock is an item often found in a bedroom	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
peanut_caramel_sauce is a condiment	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
henry001 is a person who has attended the school college	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
toshiba has acquired westinghouse	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
marcus_monk and peyton_hillis are teammates	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8
day_mary is the mother of jesus	1116	12-sep-2018	93.8
citibank is a bank in hong_kong	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0