In fact linear regression could be used to do all of those things, most of them poorly but some of them pretty well (see dictionary learning). If you believe otherwise then you fundamentally misunderstand how neural networks work.
I think the point is that you can build a boat out of bricks, and you can build neural networks out of linear regression. But that doesn't make modern AI "just fancy linear regression" the same way modern boats aren't "just fancy bricks".
