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
inflatable_sofa_chair_seat is an item found on the floor	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
john_lee_clark is a U.S. politician	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
n4_8_percentage_points is a machine-learning algorithm	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
ch_teauroux_classic_de_l_indre_troph_e_feniou is a sports race	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
colossians_1_9_10 is an ethnic group	1111	06-jul-2018	95.3
katyusha_rocket is a type of weapon produced in israel	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
white_mountain_peak is related to north_america	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
services is an organization also known as maryland_division	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8
florida_state was the looser of n2006_orange_bowl	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
boston_braves is a sports team that plays the sport football	1116	12-sep-2018	93.7