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
aluminum_pipe_fittings is a building material	1111	06-jul-2018	98.4
rochelle_togo_figa is a CEO	1111	06-jul-2018	94.4
aluminum_acetate_dibasic is a chemical	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
controversy_process is a cognitive action	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
holy_island is a geopolitical entity that is an organization	1111	06-jul-2018	94.4
washington_d_c_ is a city that lies on the river snake	1113	15-aug-2018	99.3
synthroid is a drug worked on by abbot_laboratories	1114	25-aug-2018	96.9
brandon_duckworth is an athlete that flied out to position center	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
stove is often found in kitchen	1111	06-jul-2018	100.0
the country greece uses the currency euros	1116	12-sep-2018	100.0