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
caving_cuckoo_clock is an item found on a wall	1111	06-jul-2018	99.5
a_a is a bacterium	1111	06-jul-2018	91.1
poker_yalp is a non-sports, non-electronic game	1111	06-jul-2018	95.1
thinking_business is a cognitive action	1111	06-jul-2018	92.0
natasha_wing is a writer	1111	06-jul-2018	95.6
adidas has acquired reebok	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
paul001 is a person who graduated from the university state_university	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
beds is often found in big_rooms	1111	06-jul-2018	99.9
jeep makes the automobile jeep_wrangler	1114	25-aug-2018	100.0
spanish is a language taught in language schools in the city las_palmas_de_gran_canaria	1113	15-aug-2018	100.0