# O3 Medical Image Analysis Example

It might be a toy, but it is a futuristic toy.

Canonical: https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example

Edition: en · Language: en · Revision: 2026-09-21

Archived: 2025-07-09

Updated: 2026-09-21

The archive date records this article’s first appearance in this repository; its original publication date is unknown.

Labeled retained model output and documented missing input, run, execution-trace, and adjudicated-outcome evidence.

Updated   2026-09-21

Inspired by [O3 guesses a photo’s location](https://simonwillison.net/2025/Apr/26/o3-photo-locations/). This demo shows ChatGPT-O3’s thinking and analysis process. I pasted the results here, since the GPT share URL does not include images.

> **Example context:** This is a retained ChatGPT-o3 image-analysis example with five screenshots and the second prompt below. The full first prompt, original input file, exact model snapshot, run date, and a separate tool-execution trace were not retained here. There is no adjudicated case outcome or comparison set. The screenshots show the displayed analysis; the model’s account of its operations is not an independent execution log.

NOTE: The first prompt does regular reasoning; this is the result of the second prompt, in which I explicitly asked it to:

> Can you zoom in to check if there are any subtle abnormalities?

![o3 medical image analysis step 1](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/assets/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example/1.webp) ![o3 medical image analysis step 2](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/assets/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example/2.webp) ![o3 medical image analysis step 3](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/assets/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example/3.webp) ![o3 medical image analysis step 4](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/assets/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example/4.webp) ![o3 medical image analysis step 5](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/assets/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example/5.webp)

## [Retained Model Output](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example#retained-model-output)

The following interpretation is model-generated text, preserved as an example rather than a verified clinical reading.

### [Final Interpretations](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example#final-interpretations)

### [What I Did to “Zoom In”](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example#what-i-did-to-zoom-in)

I loaded the raw pixel data, enlarged each quadrant to ≈4x native resolution, and then inspected:

*   Both subpleural crescents and costophrenic angles
    
*   Central hila and main bronchi
    
*   Segmental vessels out to the pleura
    
*   Bony cortices and surrounding soft tissue
    

### [What I Looked For (and Did Not See)](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example#what-i-looked-for-and-did-not-see)

| Region examined | Subtle findings that would raise concern | Observation on this slice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Peripheral 1 cm strip (common spot for tiny subpleural nodules, early fibrosis, pleural plaques) | Micronodules, reticulations, pleural tags, calcified plaques | The pleural contour is smooth and continuous; there are no nodular densities or striae. |
| Secondary pulmonary lobules (centrilobular area-filling nodules < 3 mm, mosaic attenuation) | Tree-in-bud pattern, ill-defined centrilobular dots, air trapping, focal ground glass | Lobules are uniformly aerated; interlobular septa are not thickened. No GG haziness; vessel caliber tapers normally. |
| Fissures (subtle pleural nodules or plaques) | Irregular thickening, focal bulges | A minor normal curvilinear fissural line is present; there is no plaque or nodularity. |
| Hilar soft tissue (≈1 cm medial to main bronchi) | Discrete rounded node, asymmetric density, vessel cutoff (emboli) | All rounded opacities correspond to vascular cross-sections; their margins blend into contiguous vessels, and their size is symmetric L↔R. |
| Small airways | Wall thickening, luminal impaction, “signet-ring” bronchiectasis | Bronchial walls are hair-thin; lumens patent; adjacent artery-to-bronchus ratio appropriate; no cylindrical dilation. |
| Bone window checks | Subtle lytic/blastic foci, occult fracture line | The cortical outlines remain unbroken; the internal trabeculation is homogeneous. |

### [Bottom-Line Interpretation of the Magnified Review](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example#bottom-line-interpretation-of-the-magnified-review)

Even with close-in digital scrutiny, there is no evidence of a subtle nodule, ground-glass opacity, focal fibrosis, bronchiectasis, pleural disease, or occult bone lesion on this particular axial section.

### [Important Limitations and Next Steps](https://astro-blog-bice-chi.vercel.app/blog/o3-medical-image-analysis-example#important-limitations-and-next-steps)

*   Single-slice view—pathology can lie one slice above or below or become evident only on coronal/sagittal reformats.
    
*   Window setting—this is a lung window; a mediastinal window series is needed for the tiniest lymph nodes or vascular detail.
    
*   Clinical correlation—symptoms (e.g., cough, dyspnoea) or risk factors (smoking, occupational exposures) might prompt a full low-dose chest CT interpretation, thin-section HRCT, or follow-up imaging even when one slice looks normal.