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
n11_19_56 is a term used by physicists	1111	06-jul-2018	92.3
video_poker_guide is a non-sports, non-electronic game	1111	06-jul-2018	98.7
activation_software is a tool	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
norwegian_glacier_museum is a museum	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
contact_code is a website	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
scandinavian_countries is a generalization of eastern_european_countries	1115	03-sep-2018	100.0
gner is a transportation system located in the city central_london	1116	12-sep-2018	99.8
samuel_taylor_coleridge contributed to the creative work the_rime_of_the_ancient_mariner	1112	24-jul-2018	100.0
carotid_artery arises from aorta	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0
riverside is a subpart of california	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0