I'm more of a manga reader then a western comic one, but why would there be sentiment against this? In what way is the reading order of panels up to interpretation?
Focusing manga, the shoujo space for instance has a reputation for using out of frame character positionning and not shying away from composing pages with a visual flow that doesn't follow the actual character speech.
It would be complex to pin a given panel order as canonical when the author is playing games with the reader. I don't think authors would oppose an accesibility feature, but I could see the debate if it was a more prominent, sanctionned way of reading.
You've now focused too much on manga/comics. Stepping back a bit and looking at art more in general and using the provided example of looking at a painting, who are you to tell me where I should be looking. yeah yeah, i see the obvious thing your AI is trying to tell me where to look, but I'm looking at this less obvious thing that really strikes my fancy. maybe it's a blemish. maybe it's a unique brush stroke/technique that others might not care about, but an aspiring artist might. (even if it is another stupid AI.)
because that was the idea proposed on how to expand this concept to something else. that's how conversations evolve. someone says something that plants a seed for someone else, that then gets someone else thinking, that then, that then.
Yeah but isn't telling you where to look for and what to think contrary to the idea of art? Sure, a guide telling you why Van Gogh's brushstroke was interesting may give you a newfound appreciation of what from a distance is a simple looking painting, but treating looking at art as something that should be min/maxed and optimized sounds depressing.
It would be complex to pin a given panel order as canonical when the author is playing games with the reader. I don't think authors would oppose an accesibility feature, but I could see the debate if it was a more prominent, sanctionned way of reading.