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
cancer_meaning is a physiological condition	1111	06-jul-2018	90.3
_swords is a weapon	1111	06-jul-2018	97.3
swollen_arm_pit_lymph_nodes is a lymph node	1111	06-jul-2018	99.1
piper_at_the_gates_of_dawn is a musical album	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
superior_transverse_scapular_ligament is a vein	1111	06-jul-2018	98.8
contact_the_division is a synonym for services	1111	06-jul-2018	98.4
the home stadium of jocelyn_thibault is wrigley_field	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
magic is a sports team that plays against bobcats	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
blood_vessels is a subpart of the body within cells	1111	06-jul-2018	96.9
sofia is the capital city of the country bulgaria	1116	12-sep-2018	96.9