A novel flatness sensing system which is called the Flatness Sensing Inter-stand Looper(FlatSIL) system is suggested and a self-tuning PI control system using the FlatSIL is designed for improving the flatness of hot strip in finishing mill processes. The FlatSIL system measures the tension along the direction of the strip width by using segmented rolls, and the tension profile is approximated through the tension of each segmented roll. The flatness control system is operated by using the tension profile. The proposed flatness control system as far as the tension profile-measuring device works for the full strip length during the strip rolling in finishing mills. The generalized minimum variance self-tuning (GMV S-T) PI control method is applied to control the flatness of hot strip which has a design parameter as weighting factor for updating the PI gains. Optimizing the design parameter in the GMV S-T PI controller, the Robbins-Monro algorithm is used. It is shown by the computer simulation and experiment that the proposed GMV S-T PI flatness control system has better performance than the fixed PI flatness control system.