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
n1_1_2_inch_squares is a geometric shape	1111	06-jul-2018	97.5
huge_demographic_changes is a cognitive action	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
ming_s_dynasty_records is a record label	1111	06-jul-2018	97.4
n1945___1956 is a year	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
lake_eustis_pupfish is a vertebrate	1111	06-jul-2018	97.4
european_champion_clubs__cup is a awardtrophytournament that was awarded in stadiumoreventvenue allianz_arena	1112	24-jul-2018	100.0
widow_spiders is an animal that is a kind of spiders	1111	06-jul-2018	97.9
james_wood held the position of critic	1115	03-sep-2018	100.0
indianapolis is the home city of the sports team super_bowl_xliv_the_indianapolis_colts	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
vince_carter coaches the team new_jersey_nets	1116	12-sep-2018	99.8