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
inflatable_l_shape_sofa_chair is an item found on the floor	1111	06-jul-2018	99.8
yakima_jaguar is an automobile manufacturer	1111	06-jul-2018	97.9
candy_fruit_slices is a kind of candy	1111	06-jul-2018	98.2
poker_calculator is a sporting event	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
christopher_jackson is a journalist	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
bootham_crescent is related to nestle	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
larvae feeds on dragonfly_nymphs	1115	03-sep-2018	93.8
george_johnson is a person also known as david_carr	1115	03-sep-2018	100.0
easyjet is a company that has an office in the city basel	1112	24-jul-2018	93.8
federal_motor_carrier_safety_administration is an organization known by the acronym fmcsa	1115	03-sep-2018	100.0