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
fireplace_clock is an item often found in a bedroom	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
steady_breezes is a weather phenomenon	1111	06-jul-2018	98.5
placement_counselor is a profession	1111	06-jul-2018	96.1
hair_straightner_cream is a personal care product	1111	06-jul-2018	97.2
philip_h__abelson is a scientist	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
spiders is an animal that preys on pets	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
como_zoo_and_conservatory is an aquarium in the city st__paul	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
lord_jesus and paul are family members	1113	15-aug-2018	93.8
dodge is a specific automobile maker dealer in california	1115	03-sep-2018	96.9
krcg_tv is a TV affiliate of the network cbs_evening_news	1116	12-sep-2018	99.2