A system and a method are disclosed for automatic question classification and answering. A multipart artificial neural network (ANN) comprising a main ANN and an auxiliary ANN classifies a received question according to one of a plurality of defined categories. Unlabeled data is received from a source, such as a plurality of human volunteers. The unlabeled data comprises additional questions that might be asked of an autonomous machine such as a humanoid robot, and is used to train the auxiliary ANN in an unsupervised mode. The unsupervised training can comprise multiple auxiliary tasks that generate labeled data from the unlabeled data, thereby learning an underlying structure. Once the auxiliary ANN has trained, the weights are frozen and transferred to the main ANN. The main ANN can then be trained using labeled questions. The original question to be answered is applied to the trained main ANN, which assigns one of the defined categories. The assigned category is used to map the original question to a database that most likely contains the appropriate answer. An object and/or a property within the original question can be identified and used to formulate a query, using, for example, system query language (SQL), to search for the answer within the chosen database. The invention makes efficient use of available information, and improves training time and error rate relative to use of single part ANNs.