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
n1989_honda_civic is a model of automobile	1111	06-jul-2018	98.2
front_porches is something found in or on buildings	1111	06-jul-2018	98.4
floor_to_ceiling_wall is an item often found in a hallway	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
aluminum_drum is a musical instrument	1111	06-jul-2018	95.3
political_polls is a hobby	1111	06-jul-2018	99.6
usa is related to chicago_cubs	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
john_kerry represents the region states	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8
daryle_ward is the parent of gary_ward	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
marc_anthony has wife jennifer_lopez	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
spiders is called recluse_spider	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0