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
willis_brown is an Asian person	1111	06-jul-2018	91.2
calculator_calculator is a tool	1111	06-jul-2018	99.7
replacement_of_methyl_tertiary_butyl_ether is a chemical	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
human_hair_wigs is a personal care product	1111	06-jul-2018	99.2
chair_floor_mat is an item found on the floor	1111	06-jul-2018	99.5
kingston is a park in the city central_london	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
state_university is a sports team also known as boise_state_university	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
lt__joseph_r__hunt is an athlete who injured his/her hands	1115	03-sep-2018	100.0
ntl has acquired virgin_mobile	1114	25-aug-2018	93.8
reptiles is an animal that preys on creatures	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8