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
volvo_120_series_engines is a kind of automobile engine	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
agenda_setting_meeting is a perception action	1111	06-jul-2018	99.0
larval_tapeworm is a virus	1111	06-jul-2018	91.3
nodosinellidae is a mollusk	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
contact_work_media is a book	1111	06-jul-2018	92.8
dustin_hoffman starred in the movie rain_man	1115	03-sep-2018	99.8
stamitz is a musician who plays the viola	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8
eisenhower represents the region us	1115	03-sep-2018	99.9
horseshoe_crabs is an arthropod that feeds on insects	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
images contributed to the creative work commandments	1112	24-jul-2018	98.4