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
plastic_bucket is an item found in the kitchen	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
dermoid_sinus is a vein	1111	06-jul-2018	98.6
swordfish_sucker is a fish	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
lymph_nodes_groin_photo is a lymph node	1111	06-jul-2018	98.9
n1993_kidnapping ia a crime or charge	1111	06-jul-2018	91.5
blueridge is a mountain in the state or province virginia	1116	12-sep-2018	93.8
united_nations is headquartered in the country us	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
chevrolet makes the automobile chevrolet_monte_carlo	1114	25-aug-2018	96.9
the sports leage nba uses the venue td_banknorth_garden	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8
mike_singletary is a person who belongs to the organization san_francisco	1112	24-jul-2018	100.0