The UK government "wants any excuse for censorship", Elon Musk has said, amid a growing backlash over deepfake sexual images produced by his social media site X's artificial intelligence tool.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said X needed "to get a grip of" its AI chatbot Grok, and he had asked media regulator Ofcom for "all options to be on the table".

Indonesia temporarily blocked the chatbot on Saturday, becoming the ​first country to deny access to the AI tool.

Image: Elon Musk has responded to the criticism of Grok on X. Pic: Reuters/ Evelyn Hockstein

It comes after criticism from governments and regulators in Europe and Asia, with some opening inquiries into sexualised content.

Earlier this week, the Internet Watch Foundation reported that criminals have been using Grok to create child sexual abuse imagery.

On Friday, X appeared to have changed Grok's settings, with a message displayed by the chatbot saying image editing had been limited to paid subscribers - changes described as "insulting" by Downing Street.

Appearing defiant, Musk later shared one X user's post criticising the Labour government for apparently focusing on his platform, pointing to claims of other AI programmes creating non-sexualised images of women in bikinis.

"They want any excuse for censorship," the tech billionaire said. Responding to further posts on Saturday, he shared one which asked: "So what if Grok can put people in bikinis?" and stated that "millions" of other apps can also do this. "This isn't a new problem, it's a new tool," the post said.

Musk has previously said on X that anyone using Grok ⁠to make illegal content would suffer ‌the same consequences as if they ‍had uploaded it.

Image: Pic: Reuters/ Dado Ruvic/ Illustration

Criticism of X has focused on manipulation of photographs of real women to remove their clothes, and the reports of Grok's production of images of child abuse.