This paper concerns the design and application of an electro-rheological (ER) fluid damper to semiactive vibration control of rotor systems. In particular, the system under present study is constructed structurally flexible in order to explore multiple critical speeds within operation range. To this end, the dynamic models of the proposed ER damper and its associated amplifier are derived in the first place. Subsequently entire rotor system model is assembled along with the dynamics of the end effector based on a finite element method enabling prediction as to its free and forced vibration characteristics. Next, an artificial intelligent (AI) feedback controller is synthesized taking into account the peculiarity of Coulomb damping effect in rotor applications. Finally, computational and experimental results are presented including model validation and control performances. In practice, such an AI control proved effective whether the spin speed was either before or after critical speeds.